Wanderer's Home arc 1: Decepticons
by Gatekat
Summary: G1. Skywarp/OFC. When two meteors-that-aren't-meteors crash in the Canadian Rockies, they contain two new players for the war. Either one could tip the balance of power, but they bring a war of their own to the planet as well.
1. Wanderer's Arrival

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Megatron/Starscream, Skywarp/Wanderer  
_Rating_: R for Mech/Mech, NC-17 for M/F  
_Codes_: Slash, Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: When two meteors-that-aren't-meteors crash in the Canadian Rockies, they contain two new players for the war, and either one could tip the balance of power, but they bring a war of their own to the planet as well.

_Note 1_: No fleshy bits on machines.

_Note 2_: Yes, it's Female OC centric. Yes, I expect her to sleep with half the robotic cast before settling down. No, I'm not going to apologize. First story in the fandom. I have to get the OCs out somehow.

_Note 3_: Where there was a data conflict, we went with the Ultimate Guide.

_Note 4_: If anyone is dumb enough to think I own the Transformers and thus Hasbro, I have this bridge in Brooklyn to sell.

Units of time:  
solar cycle: a local (non-Cybertron) day  
lunar cycle: a local (non-Cybertron) month  
stellar cycle: a local (non-Cybertron) year

nanoklik: 1 second  
klik: 1.2minutes  
breem: 8.3 minutes  
joor: 1 hour  
cycle: 2 hours  
megacycle: 2.6 hours  
orn: a Cybertron day (31 hours)  
decaorn: 10 Cybertronian days (a week)  
metacycle: a year on Cybertron (1491 orn)  
vorn: 83 metacycles  
ganon: 2,286 vorn/1,000,442 Earth stellar cycles

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 01: Wanderer's Arrival**

* * *

Deep beneath the ocean, resting against the sea floor, the crashed hulk of a Starcruiser lays, its dim lights flickering now and then, but mostly steady, a utilitarian, but foreboding lighting. From the dim light stretched one blue metallic hand to tap a display screen, red optics shifted as a giant head turned to look over it's owners' solid blue metallic shoulder.

"Megatron, you may wish to see this," Soundwave spoke evenly. "The two incoming meteors have a power source and robotic life signals."

"Power?" Megatron eagerly cut off his typical response at the magic word. "Life from Cybertron?"

"No, Lord Megatron," Soundwave's impassive voice seemed to harmonize with only itself, as if replaying the words over as he spoke, so fast that it overlaid on itself. "The power origins unknown. They correspond with no known ship or lifeform type. Projecting crash site."

"The 'Canadian Rockies ... Decepticons!" Megatron roared, his sharp optics taking in the displayed information in the blinking of a nanoklik. "To the skies! We will claim this energy for ourselves."

An assortment of metallic evil enlived took off at the command; the eager, sinister Starscream glowered, muttering to the others in the rear, out of 'earshot' of their leader. "Twenty gets you thirty Megatron'll get his servos kicked by whoever's in those things."

"You're on," Thundercracker snorted. "No one beats Megatron."

"Forty chips says Starscream gets his servos kicked," Skywarp got into the game.

"By the owners of those ships, or Megatron?" the blue Seeker laughed.

"Either," Skywarp laughed back.

"Silence you traitors!" Starscream snarled, twisting midair to fire on them both. "_I_ am superior to you all! Not even Megatron compares to my mighty intellect!"

"Right, right, no one kicks your tail rudder," the black Seeker backed off quickly.

"That's better," Starscream settled down before the squabble drew Megatron's attention. The rest of the flight to the Canadian Rockies went quietly enough, but not fast enough to beat the first meteor-like ship to the ground, or....

"The Autobots!" Starscream howled in frustration. "Attack!"

"No!" Megatron countered.

"What?" Starscream just about lost his composure.

"Let them deal with whatever is inside those ships, then we will pick up the pieces," Megatron explained calmly. "Why waste our energy when the Autobots can do the fighting? Hide yourselves. Soundwave, launch Laserbeak."

"Laserbeak: Operation Surveillance," Soundwave commanded, ejecting the cassette into the air to transform into the mechanical black bird. "Record and report what the Autobots say and learn," he pointed at the gathering in the valley below them.

* * *

"Perceptor, what are we looking at?" Optimus Prime asked as he stood with Jazz, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Warpath, Mirage and Ironhide at the edge of a small creator created by the 15-meter diameter 'meteor' when it had 'landed'.

"An alien space ship of a kind never encountered before," Perceptor said. "Its power supply is draining quickly, and there is a single weak life sign deep inside. Cybertronian in origin, I believe. Though not modern Cybertronian." He shifted around, then transformed to his base form. "The door is here."

"Well, let's get it open," Optimus Prime said and stepped forward with Warpath and Ironhide to pry it open, only to have part of the rock slide out and over before they touched it.

Warpath and Ironhide both took a step back in shock at the sight of the silvery ... thing ... inside as it awkwardly struggled to extract itself from the cramped confines of it's rocky ship.

"Greetings," Optimus offered his hand to the dull silvery creature as it became apparent she wasn't like anyone from Cybertron in design, for all she shared their basic body design of two arms and two legs with a torso and head. Yet not even Ironhide couldn't begin to guess what her alternate form might look like.

"Zushita," she replied, looking at him warily and avoiding his assistance. She eventually stood upright and looked at Optimus Prime in the eye before looking at the others. "Trgi yi u-kikka?"

"I do not understand," Optimus Prime told her before glancing back towards Perceptor for help.

"It does have a fundamental mathematical base like ours, but it is not a related language," Perceptor offered. "I will be able to translate soon, if you can keep her talking."

It was enough of a distraction that she slipped away from him and bolted, only to crash squarely into Ratchet when he stepped into the larger robot's path that sent them both sprawling on the ground. There was barely enough time to resister the impact before she was up again, but this time Optimus was squarely in her way and caught her gently but firmly.

"We will not hurt you," he said as gently as he could. He recognized panic when he saw it, even if he understood very little else about this strange femme-bot.

"Ei'rlr!" she squirmed in his grip, trying to escape even though she didn't have the strength to and they both knew it.

"Please calm down," Optimus said again, trying to get her to focus on him instead of the tree line beyond his forces. "You are not in danger. We want to help you."

"Optimus," Ratchet caught their attention as he stepped up, not wanting to startle his leader into loosening his grip. "Here," he offered a small energon cube from himself. "It's safe," he promised, hoping his tone and manner would come across.

Her eyes fixed on the energon, and her body quivered before she relaxed her resistance to being held and reached hesitantly for it. Ratchet put it in her hand and stepped back, watching her to gage her damages as best he could without getting hands on. There was no way she was ready to let him properly diagnose her condition.

Optimus Prime relaxed his grip a bit so she could absorb it, and watched her eat hurriedly, ready at any instant to tighten his grip again.

The energon gone, she looked him in the face again. "Ei'rlr!" she repeated, looking over her shoulder as the other meteor came down several miles away. "Ei'rlr!" she tried to point to it, her fear spiking again.

"I believe I understand the fundamentals now," Perceptor spoke up before speaking to her, stringing together sounds that made no sense to his companions, but clearly made sense to her given the rapid spat of a response he got.

"The other meteor contains her enemy," Perceptor translated. "She's very afraid of him." He looked back at her and said a few more things, and she reluctantly snapped her chin up and to her right. "She'll understand English and Cybertronian shortly," he added as he passed her a chip.

She regarded it suspiciously, then inserted it into a slot on her forearm.

A moment later and she focused on Optimus Prime. "If he sees you with me, he'll kill you too."

"Nobody's killing anyone," he promised her. "Who is coming after you?" He asked, as the rest of the Autobots turned to face where the other meteor had crashed.

"Don't remember," she tried to pull away again. "Can't fight him."

"You won't have to," Optimus reassured her. "Ratchet, take her back to the Ark. You'll be safe there," he promised her, encouraging her to go with the Autobots' medic.

She'd made two steps before railgun fire erupted around them, digging into everyone and everything around her while it sliced into its primary target.

"Prime!" Ratchet forgot his orders almost instantly as he rushed forward to help his leader while the others returned fire.

* * *

From a ridge above the battlefield, Megatron smiled as he watched the Autobots fight and the female alien bolt for the trees. "Skywarp. Bring her to me."

"As you wish, Megatron," the black Seeker agreed, teleporting out as the Decepticon leader watched the battle. It wasn't going to last long and he had no doubts the Autobots would drive the second alien off, but seeing Prime wounded and in pain was always a pleasure.

"Over here!" Skywarp called to the fleeing alien as he appeared nearby, motioning for her to follow him behind an outcropping. Her partially translucent state wasn't lost on him, but it wasn't something he cared about either. "I can get you out of here!" He was privately pleased that she didn't even wait for him to finish before running for him. He didn't need Ratchet's training or Perceptor's ability to recognize a bot on their last energy reserves and running for their life. It made her very vulnerable to bribery and that was an advantage.

"Hold on tight," he warned her, before he teleported back out, a hail of railgun shots ripping through the rockface just after they'd taken off.

He reappeared next to Megatron and felt sharp claws briefly drive into his shoulders as she processed what had happened and panicked, only to relax again as he let her go to stand on her own feet on solid ground. The thing that stuck in his mind the most before she stepped away from him to assess the Decepticons was the fact that she was as tall as Megatron; a head and some taller than he was.

"You are?" she asked, focusing on Megatron almost immediately.

"I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons," he told her, standing tall and looking down at the battle again. "Are you on the run from the second warrior who landed?" He asked her, looking up at the ledge above the fight. It was such a temptation, but given her first encounter with the Autobots didn't _seem_ to go poorly, he needed some sort of an excuse.

"Yes," she nodded with no real hesitation. "He's hunted me for a long time. Are they Decepticons?" she motioned to the embattled robots below.

"No; they are Autobots. I will explain later, but you're fortunate you found your way to us," he told her, raising his cannon. He fired a blast at the rockface, shattering it and sending boulders raining down on the lot of them, coming from behind the newcomer. The Autobots would be able to respond before they were caught in it, but he might catch one of two of them if he was lucky.

"Come, we'll return to our base. You need fuel, and repairs," he pointed out to her.

She nodded, glancing at the rubble and then back at Megatron as they lifted off. "I can't fly. Not without full repairs."

"Allow me," Starscream said with a half-bow.

"Starscream will carry you," Megatron agreed. "We'll arrange for repairs once we've landed - until then, this might help you on the way," he added, offering her a handful of energon chips.

"Thank you," she nodded and consumed them quickly before she to wrapped her arms around Starscream's neck while he held on to her waist

"I've never lost a passenger, unless I wanted to," Starscream reassured her, rolling to take off after Megatron, the rest of them following to make sure nothing happened, and to watch her for weaknesses and reactions.

Despite the secure double-grip, it was all too clear that she was not only keenly aware of what she did to his aerodynamics, but that she wasn't that comfortable with flying. Despite that, and just how drained he suspected she was relative to her max, despite the fear she'd shown several times that marked her as more suitable for an Autobot, he was sure she'd be deadly when repaired and recharged.

After all, the other alien had weapons and power on her, but she continued to survive. Whatever allowed that, it was worth learning, and exploiting.

If nothing else, he could trade her to the other alien for something useful and enjoy having a femme around in the meantime.

Soon they were back at their base, and the new arrival was grateful to be back on solid surface, even if it was a tower lift.

"Where are you from?" Megatron asked her as they road the lift down into the base. "Join me, and I'll see that you recharge before your repairs."

The question gave her pause, then she scowled and finally flicked her chin to the left as the lift stopped inside the starship stuck at the bottom of the sea. "I don't have access to that ... I haven't needed it in so long. I will fight for you though."

"Good," he nodded and led her to the recharging chambers deep inside the ship. "Why don't you tell us what happened to you, what you remember at least. Why were you being hunted?"

"Fully charged, I might remember, but that data has not been needed in too long to be in active memory," she told him and lay down in the charging chamber. "He has been after me for a very long time. I remember worlds where natives have taken me in, tried to help me, and he wiped them out for it. My ship landed here to recharge inside the magma layer. Until it comes back up, I survive any way I have to. I fought him, beat him, long ago, but his ship is better and the hunt has worn me down.

"I remember home, before the war," she let her optics drift off-line, going deeper into her fragmentary active memory as energy flowed freely for the first time in what felt like forever. "The palace. It was so beautiful. Crystal and gold, when the suns were out you could drink in the power just by standing in its shadow. It was so warm," she murmured, only partially conscious.

"Then the war, he destroyed the palace?" Megatron prodded, delighted at how easily she seemed to talk and what he was sure were sounds of pleasure at the energy flow. If this was pleasurable, he could make her scream in ecstasy. Pleasure was such a motivator for females.

"His kind," she said quietly. "He hunts for his masters. Hunts the survivors. Hunts me. I used to fight, I beat him, never could kill him," she rambled as much as spoke.

"Why did you live in the palace?" Megatron almost cooed. He was fully aware that Soundwave, Starscream and Skywarp were hanging out, the Seekers keeping their distance while Soundwave had moved closer. He was sure his loyal servant was recording every nuance of this. "A palace is for special people."

"I was important?" she half asked.

"You must have been, to live in a palace and have someone hunt you so hard for so long," Megatron told her. "A very important warrior."

"Maybe," she shifted, her optics on-lining briefly to look at him. "Don't even know my name. I'm no one now," she said softly. "Just a wanderer."

"Well, you need a name," Megatron told her. "So we will call you Wanderer until you remember your name."

"All right," she agreed without question. "Do all Decepticons fly?"

"Yes, Wanderer," he nodded. "After you are fully repaired, we will upgrade you so you can as well."

"All right," she said, her processors distracted. "You know you are in great danger from him for harboring me."

"The Autobots may be, but not the Decepticons," Megatron said with absolute assurance. "And once you are strong again, you will hunt _him_ at my side."

"That sounds good," she murmured, drifting further off.

"Soundwave, have Laserbeak watch her," Megatron ordered as he stood.

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Soundwave replied and ejected the robotic avian, who found a perch and settled in for the watch.

"They are preparing for her repairs, Megatron," Soundwave said as they left the room. "I have recorded the discussion and am processing it for subsonic and other information."

"Good," Megatron nodded to him.

"Do you believe her long-winded story?" Starscream asked him, considering what he'd heard himself.

"I believe she believes it," he said simply. "She said herself that her memory circuits are questionable at best."

"Very true. We might be better off trading her to the hunter though - he did well against the Autobots," Starscream pointed out. "All we've seen her do is run from fights, but the hunter has been just as long from home, and he's still fully functional."

"_I_ will determine what we do with her, and when," Megatron focused on his Air Commander fully. "I want to see what she's capable of when she's fully functional."

"Regardless, it'll be nice having a femme around again," Thundercracker said almost to himself. "I barely remember the last one that wasn't an Autobot prisoner."

"Those were fun to play with though," Skywarp chuckled. "Even if it has been forever since we even had one of them."

"Yeah, it sucks that femmes are extinct," Thundercracker agreed. "Maybe when we finally crush the Autobots we'll get a few more."

"Does Lord Megatron find her ... _appealing_?" Starscream mocked his leader, and earned himself the second warning of the day that he was on his way to another beating.

"So what if I do?" Megatron dared him.

"Jealous?" Skywarp snickered, knowing all too well what kept his fellow Seeker alive half the time.

"Not at all," Starscream said smoothly. "Why should I be concerned about somebody wanting to be with a decrepit, rusting, delusional fossil?" He was already going to hurt for this, he might as well make it worthwhile. The flair in Megatron's eyes told him he'd hit home, hard ... maybe a little too hard.

Even Soundwave took a step back to be clear of what everyone expected to go down when Laserbeak interrupted the tension with a squawk.

"She has charged as much as her current state will allow," Soundwave reported.

"I'll take her down to repair," Skywarp offered, more interested in getting closer to the first femme he'd met in ages than avoiding watching Megatron rape his wingleader.

"Do that," Megatron nodded, his eyes still on Starscream, though the subtle change in that look was there for those that knew him well.

Without so much as a warning, he grabbed Starscream by the throat and slammed him against the nearest wall in two strides before letting his momentum close the distance between them.

"Lord Megatron," Starscream squirmed, his voice going up an octave as fear rushed through him.

"Perhaps I _should_ take the edge off before I deal with the femme again," Megatron smiled, a look that made it all the more disturbing.

"Y-yes, my Lord," Starscream whimpered, even as deep inside he looked forward to these encounters. Megatron wasn't a kind lover, few Decepticons were, but he was absolutely intense on every level in a way few could match.

He lowered his defenses a bit, opening himself up to the connection Megatron was establishing, though not before he'd been careful to block off certain areas of his mind.

~You've grown to enjoy this, haven't you?~ Megatron's voice was in his head now as the leader's powerful personality flooded Starscream's circuits, wrapping the Seeker in a nearly suffocating presence that drained his energy, even as Megatron ruthlessly triggered both pain and pleasure in his touch circuitry.

~I learn something new each time,~ Starscream responded mentally, pulling his personality back into harder to reach portions of his psyche, fighting to maintain his autonomy as long as he could, mounting a defense against the indomitable personality that was seeking him out. It was just a game, one he'd never win, but he knew his leader and he knew that his survival could rest on giving Megatron the rush of pleasure that only came after a battle for dominance on this most personal plane.

A low chuckle greeted the statement, and the effort at a defense. With each pluck of pain or pleasure along his tactile sensors, Megatron got a little deeper, took a little more. Each moment was harder to hold together until Starscream was limp in the real world, a sharp keen erupting from his voice synthesizer in a wordless begging for the invasion and torment to end.

Then, for a brief, almost blissful moment, Starscream ceased to exist. He was absorbed into Megatron's personality, his circuitry laid bare to his Master's perusal, except for the areas he'd built greater defenses around, the true dark corners and nooks of his mind. As long as he stayed out of them, Megatron _usually_ left them be... which was probably why Starscream was still alive.

With the scrape of metal against metal as Starscream slid down the wall he'd been pinned against, the world came back into a form of focus for the red and white Seeker. As always, he was drained, weak and badly disoriented when Megatron withdrew; physically as vulnerable as he had been mentally moments before.

"That was a good idea," Megatron said with a smug, sated satisfaction before stepping away to go check on his newest Decepticon.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Skywarp asked as he helped the still unsteady alien bot to her feet from the charging chamber.

"Better than I have in a long time," she smiled at him in thanks and let her fingers linger in his hand. "Perhaps when I have finished repairs, I can offer a more personal thank-you?" she crooned.

"I would welcome it," he smiled back at her and guided her through a route that wouldn't take them past Megatron and Starscream. "It has been forever since I've had such lovely company."

"Females are rare among your kind?" she asked, curious and interested.

"Very rare," he nodded. "I've met a couple, but no one who wanted anything to do with me."

"I can not see why," Wanderer cocked her head, looking over at him as they walked. "You are attractive, strong, and have a useful talent."

"I'm ... attractive?" he nearly stammered as the door opened to the repair bay and he showed her where to lie down so the repair robots could do their work.

"I think so," she cooed and relaxed as her body was repaired. "I've always had a thing for fast black fighters."

"Well thanks," he said, about as close to blushing as his metal body could come. "You're attractive too... very exotic. What do you transform into?"

It took her a moment to dig that information up. "There's a six-limbed predator, and a low, fast ground vehicle. I should be able to show you when these things are done. With a full charge, I can scan and adopt a new form, but it's been ages. I'm not sure if the programming is still intact."

"If it is, that would be _very_ useful - I'd keep that between the two of us," Skywarp told her. "We can do something like it, but we need to send scanners out and take some time to reconfigure first."

"Okay," Wanderer agreed, though she wasn't sure why he'd want her to withhold the information. "Are Megatron and Starscream lovers?"

"Not a chance," Skywarp laughed hard. "Starscream just keeps opening his mouth and sticking his foot in it. And they say _I'm_ the one who isn't too smart," he snorted. "No, they're not a couple - don't think Starscream's thought about anybody like that in nine ganon or more."

"He lost his in the war?" she guessed.

"Before, actually," Skywarp explained. "Who told you about the war?"

"Megatron implied it rather strongly," she said, wincing as a particularly degraded chunk of circuitry was worked on. "Are you not at war with the Autobots?"

"We are," he confirmed with a slight nod. "Remember much more about yourself?"

"Bits," she said, trying to make sense of a still-jumbled memory log. "Mostly I remember fighting, a lot against him, earlier times against others. Sometimes with a big crowd watching. Lovers, no one special. It was just for fun. A lot of fighting. I won when it wasn't against him. Just nothing lately."

"With a crowd?" Skywarp raised an eyebrow. "Like in an arena, or a street fight?"

Wanderer thought about it, cross-referenced the terms, and twitched her chin up and to the right. "An arena."

"So you might have been a gladiator," he considered her, and what she'd said.

"I guess," she said quietly. "It would fit?"

"Yeah, it would fit," he nodded. "Have you ever snuck into someplace secure?"

"Probably, but I could not tell you how," she admitted. "Just remember waking up places I should not have been able to walk into."

"Have ... Lord Megaton," Skywarp stepped away from Wanderer as soon as he saw who had entered the room. "Repairs are going well. She should be able to join us to gather energy by morning."

"Excellent," Megatron nodded. "You said you are willing to fight for me."

"Yes, Lord Megatron," she twitched her chin upward and right.

"There is a high probability the Autobots will attack while we are there," he told her evenly, his optics taking alien but still feminine form. "Will you fight them?"

"If they attack, yes," Wanderer said without question. "I'll kill anything that attacks that I can."

"Good," Megatron said with clear approval in his voice. Her pleasure at the small praise wasn't lost on either Decepticon who saw it. "I'm looking forward to seeing how well you fight."

"Who is Starscream, in the ranks, Lord Megatron?" she asked politely.

"Technically, my Second in Command and Air Commander," Megatron chuckled. "He might not be that for much longer."

"For failure, ambition or insubordination?" she almost giggled.

"Stupidity," Megatron snorted. "I probably won't even be the one to deactivate him."

"You sound disappointed?" she cocked her head slightly, only to go abruptly rigid with a nearly silent scream as energy arced around her body.

"Lord Megatron; is everything progressing normally?" Soundwave asked, arriving at the repair bay just a few moments after Wanderer's scream.

"Yes," Megatron waved him off. "Repairs when that badly damaged are not always pleasant."

"Understood, My Lord," Soundwave bowed slightly. "I will review all communications for the frequencies she just emitted. She clearly emits frequencies well above normal audible range."

"Do that," Megatron nodded. "Inform me of anything that was transmitted, even if it seems unimportant."

"As you command, Megatron," Soundwave nodded. "I could have Laserbeak maintain surveillance, in case of any 'attacks.'"

"Do that," Megatron nodded.

"Laserbeak: Operation Surveillance," Soundwave ordered as he ejected the black cassette.

"Pretty birdy," Wanderer mumbled, her optics glazed over as the repair robots worked on her internal circuitry.

"Watch her, Laserbeak. Alert if anything changes," Soundwave ordered.

* * *

"Hi," Skywarp said when he saw Wanderer's optics light up while the repair bots finished their last welds. He had to admit, she looked a _lot_ better now with all her bits shiny and looking like they should, even if she was still without much by way of a skin.

"Hey," she smiled up at him. "They done yet?"

"Yes," he stood and offered her a hand up. "How do you feel?"

"I could stand another round in the recharge unit, but pretty good," she accepted his hand as she sat up and got off the repair platform. "I don't think I've been in this good a shape in nine vorn."

"You're probably in better shape than you've been in longer than that," he told her with a grin. "Care to test out your upgrades? Kick off the ground a bit. Not too hard, you don't want to hit the ceiling."

She nodded and jumped up, her motions still those of a ground 'bot, but the upgrades worked and held her at the apex of her jump somewhat to her surprise.

He watched her shift her center of balance, testing how her programming worked with the new three-dimensional environment, and couldn't help but be impressed at just how much some repairs and energy had changed her manners. She felt strong now, and it made her all the more appealing. It also made it that much more likely to put her out of his reach, once she realized who else she could have.

"It's somewhat like underwater," Wanderer said, as much to herself as the black Seeker as her maneuvers became more advanced with each successful one. "Have you always had an airborne form?"

"Always have," Skywarp nodded. "Most of the Decepticons have. We were built for battle and speed. Megatron's the main exception - I think it was one of the Primes' bright ideas to make sure that he'd always be loyal. His real firepower needs somebody to use him in a fight," he explained. "Usually Starscream."

"He is that much more powerful than most?" she asked before attempting a backwards summersault midair that almost planted her face in the ground before she recovered enough to settle upright again.

"His cannon is," Skywarp nodded. "His primary gun is a fusion cannon that taps into a black hole for its power supply. He can atomize a target at full power, though it's a pretty big drain."

"That is an impressive weapon," she said with clear respect for the damage it represented as she landed. "Do I remember right that you'd never gotten the attention of a femme?" she nearly purred as her fingers slid along his cheek.

"Yeah," he admitted, running his own heavier, less agile hand along her smooth chassis, inwardly wondering at the power he could feel in the much lighter design. He'd been on the receiving end of Megatron's attentions a few times, and was used to Starscream and Thundercracker. Sometimes he even won the battle for dominance with his fellow Seekers.

"Is there a place where we can lock the door?" she cooed, just a touch of her intentions for him crossing over their contact.

"I can think of a few places ... or we can go out, get you some fresh air and a bit of a charge," he offered. "Just have to stay out of airspace anybody's watching."

"As tempting as that sounds, we'll be too vulnerable if my hunter finds us," she said with a tiny charge to her fingers to trigger pleasure along his tactile sensors. The moan it drew from him brought a deeper smile. "I think I have a great deal to teach you, Skywarp. At least about the enjoyable things in life."

"Probably," he only just managed to keep himself from trembling at what was being promised. "This way," he managed to get out and led her to a storeroom, locking the door behind them. It wouldn't keep anyone out that really wanted or needed in, but it would work for those just wandering around.

"Dark, I like that," Wanderer smiled and casually walked to a place where the crates would conceal them from the door but didn't hem them in if they had to move. With a gentle touch, she pushed Skywarp down, making him sit so she could kneel straddling his legs. "Relax," she cooed as she settled, their foreheads touching and torsos nearly so. "Follow the energy, join me over here."

Skywarp could feel sensations that were completely alien. The struggle for breath, a heart racing, the sound of her voice made him want to explode.

~Shu,~ she whispered directly into his mind, even though he hadn't lowered his barriers yet. ~Roll with it, handsome. It will be worth it.~

"Al-all right," he stammered out loud and opened himself up, even though it didn't seem like she needed his permission.

~You aren't given a choice by the others, are you?~ she asked him gently as she drew part of him into herself and wrapped them in a bubble of energy that formed the visual of a lavish room with opaque crystal walls and soft purple velvet and silk fabric.

"Not usually," he admitted. "It's not really how Decepticons handle it. The strong take what they want from the weaker. Megatron and Starscream can take me as they please. Thundercracker and I are largely equal. I think Soundwave does his own thing with his cassettes, and Reflector has himself, or maybe Rumble."

"Well, that's not how things work in here," Wanderer told him and stepped close, making him aware of body heat and that he had a very solid, very _organic_ body.

"What?" he gasped, looking down at himself and then at her. At short, fine blue fur; at her flat face that looked like a cross between a cat and a human; at the fluff twitching between each of their legs. At the odd sensation of a small, very flexible tail that seemed to default to being tucked up between his legs.

"In time, you can developed your own self-view for bio-sex, but for now, I worked with what I know best," Wanderer smiled. "Bios have one advantage over us," she purred and slid her arms around his neck before pressing their mouths together tenderly. "They have a much stronger sense of touch for pleasure."

He couldn't argue with that - his entire body was tingling with unusual sensations, pleasant ones, particularly between his legs.

"People from your world?" He asked her between somewhat awkward kisses, still working on how to control the form he was entirely unused to working with mentally, that was so much softer and more flexible than his own metallic body, yet so much more rigid than his energy self.

"Those who created us, I think," she said, running her hands down his light, muscular frame to rest on slender hips. "They've been extinct since the first days. The form is good for a few things though," she promised with a trail of kisses down his chest as she knelt. "Relax your tail," she cooed.

"Okay," he nodded slightly, focusing a bit to try and relax, lowering the almost feathered length, gasping as he felt the 'air' of their surroundings brushing against his groin, then her fingers slid along the only bit of his body that wasn't covered in the soft black fuzz.

Then the hard, bare length was enclosed in hot wetness, and the pressure dropped around it.

Skywarp moaned, reaching down, running his fingers through Wanderer's short fur as his tactile senses spiked, his hips thrusting forward into the pleasure she was offering him. He was vaguely aware that she'd provided him with pre-programmed reflexes for what this form should do, and he wasn't about to contest them. Instead he just went for the ride, much like he did when Megatron took him, only this was nothing like what Megatron did to him.

His body trembled; it would be over with very soon. He didn't understand why pleasure made it so hard to hold himself back, but within moments he not only couldn't, but didn't want to.

With an uncontrolled cry he thrust his hips forward hard, distantly aware that her face was pressed against his flesh, and of the energy erupting out of him and into her mouth through the hard flesh in her mouth.

He panted, trying to stay standing, though his legs wanted to give way beneath him. After a few long moments, he pulled her up, kissing her himself this time, a little more skillfully as his still-hard flesh throbbed against her abs.

"That was incredible," he murmured. "How about you?"

"The charge is nice," she smiled and drew him towards the couch-like bed. "But that's just the warm-up," she cooed before gentle pushing him to lie back on it. "Foreplay," she slid onto the bed and straddled his hips. "Intercourse is much better," she promised before leaning down to kiss him as she rubbed her slick, swollen sex against his erection.

"Mmm ... a guy could get used to lessons like this," he murmured, his hands sliding up to her full chest, semi-conscious that it would be a pleasurable area for her.

"I have plenty more lessons to teach," she murmured before lifting her hips up slightly and sliding back to take his erection into her slick, hot, tight body. "Fantasies in here are about all that's kept me sane for vorn."

"You can make a lot of them real now," he pointed out with a groan, his hips thrusting up into her on reflex. "Incredible!"

"Looking forward to it," Wanderer arched her body with a moan of raw, unadulterated pleasure as her body twitched and squeezed his as she lifted herself up and down, riding him with a passion as bright as her passion for survival. "And to when you're used this enough to last."

"I'll have to... mmmm... learn fast," he panted, squeezing her breasts, then sliding his hands down her bouncing hips. "This your favorite way?"

"Not quite," she grinned through the pleasure she didn't try to hold back or hide. "But what I really like you aren't quite ready for," she leaned forward to kiss him, conveying the raw sexual hunger of her current body in the touch that threatened to consume him completely. "That takes enough aggression and strength to pin me, and enough endurance to outlast me."

"Better be the endurance you don't think I'm up for," he grinned wickedly, disappearing from beneath her, reappearing on top of her as she fell to the mattress. "Aggression comes built in," he grinned, grabbing her wrists and holding them to the bed, sliding his shaft into her sex and starting to thrust with a lusty growl against her neck.

"Hurrr?" Wanderer gasped in surprise, tensed, and relaxed into being dominated. "Yes!" she hissed, her body tightening around him, under him, the physical pleasure magnified by his dominance. "Harder, baby," she gasped, right on the edge of orgasm.

He thrust hard and deep, something telling him to bite down on the scruff of her neck as he growled, his short, feathery tail wagging behind him as his balls tightened again, squeezing more of his energy into her, only to have her return it as she climaxed around him, squeezing down tightly around his cock. He groaned around her scruff, but kept going, remembering what she'd said about endurance.

* * *

Skywarp groaned as he came back to his own body, one weak and drained from pleasure like nothing he'd known before. Right in front of his optic sensors was Wanderer, smiling at him.

"I think you need to go to the charging chamber," she said with a touch of actual concern.

"I've used my ration for the day," he shook his head, and accepted her hand up. Even knowing she had most of his energy, the strength in her lithe body surprised him.

"It is that tight?" she asked with a touch of concern.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll be fine. We're going to raid for energy in the morning. I'll be fine," he held back the tremor at her touch. It was electric to his circuits. "What ... what are you doing?"

"Giving a little back," she cooed. "You can barely stand, and you need to be ready to fight."

"You ... you're giving me energy?" he looked at her in open confusion.

"Hay, I'm your teammate," she looked at him, the first stirring of real doubt in her optics. "A unit is only as strong as its weakest member."

He accepted the charge, quietly thinking the way she said that line was like an Autobot, not a Decepticon. "Thanks."

"Up for a little practice in the air?" Wanderer smiled at him. "I could use it."

"Sounds good to me - I'm not running _that_ low. We should probably take somebody else along, in case we run into trouble. Flying's no trouble, but a fight might be too much."

"Thundercracker, or someone who doesn't have an aircraft alt mode?" she asked as they walked out of the storeroom.

"Well, considering _you_ don't have one, probably somebody who doesn't," he observed, not mentioning he didn't like the idea of Thundercracker near her when she was learning. "When things get tight, I usually transform for the extra speed and maneuverability, but you can't do that... Megatron might have somebody in mind, but I know he'll be working on planning the raid. Think you're up for a little scavenging while we're out?" He asked her with a grin. "Get a chance to recharge both of us that way, without tapping our supplies."

"Always," she nodded eagerly and grinned back. "An armed target, or civilian?"

"Depends on what we can find - why take the chance of getting shot at if we don't have to?" He grinned. "Besides - some of the armed ones have great gear, but the civilian ones are where you've got the most fuel, if you can spot a tanker fleet."

"Can the main computer find one?" she asked with a nod towards it as they entered the main control room where Thundercracker and Soundwave were.

"Uhm... _maybe_, but I don't use it too often," Skywarp admitted.

"What are you two looking for?" Thundercracker asked as he reviewed the intelligence of their target for the next day.

"A nice soft target we can practice flying towards and grab some fuel while we're there," Skywarp explained.

"Laserbeak, Squawkbox - Operation: Refuel," Soundwave intoned, ejecting the second cassette, Laserbeak descending from his perch to lead the way out for the amalgam robot that followed him. "I will join you," he said, standing with them. "In case additional aid is needed."

"Do you have a jet form?" Wander asked curiously, fairly sure he wasn't designed for it, as they rode the lift up.

"Negative," he informed her. "Alternate form: Earth cassette recorder. Yours?" He asked her.

"Watch what you say around Soundwave," Skywarp warned her. "He never forgets anything he hears."

"Last time I tried to transform, I had two," she said, hesitating only a fraction of a second before jumping into the air to fly. "I haven't tried since I was repaired."

"You might have to during the raid, but we'll see what happens," Skywarp said easily, taking off himself as Laserbeak and Squawkbox circled the area in ever-widening circles, searching for any viable targets on their sensors. "Especially if the Autobots catch us."

"Laserbeak has acquired a target," Soundwave offered. "Due east of here, distant."

"Good - we'll have plenty of time for flight practice." Skywarp took off, following Soundwave, staying in position to make sure Wanderer was okay.

She was awkward, but given she only had kliks or so practice, she wasn't doing too badly. She'd never have the speed or agility of his alt form, but that was to be expected.

What he couldn't do was criticize her willingness to test the boundaries of her upgrade. Fear didn't seem to be in her programming, for all he'd witnessed earlier.

"Your memories; have they begun to recover?" Soundwave asked Wanderer as they flew ahead.

"In bits and pieces," she said. "A lot don't make much sense yet, not enough context to put them in. Most of what I remember is either fighting or running."

"Music, from your home or travels?" He offered. "It may help you recall."

"I'm not sure I'd call it music, but some sounds," she said, her attention drifting into herself as her flight straitened out. She hummed a few bars, a short repeating pattern that began calm but ended fast and sharp. "Excitement is attached it. Just before a battle, I think."

"Fitting," Soundwave agreed, adopting the music, extrapolating a few extra details, and beginning playback. "Similar?"

"Yes," she nodded, then hummed the pattern again, mixed with his, and extended it, tapping with the fingers of one hand in the air. By the third loop, she had something that resembled a full song, if short.

"It sounds like the kind of thing that gets played before a big contest," Skywarp said.

"Much like the Arena on Cybertron," Soundwave agreed, mixing in some of the elements from that song to fill it out. "Does it bring any memories back for you?"

"Yes," her voice dropped nearly an octave, the hunger and eagerness in it flared hot and bright without restraint. "Battles, victory, the crowd and applause," a crackle of energy ran down her form. "Good memories. A few faces."

"I'm willing to listen - we have time," Soundwave told her, as Skywarp realized that this was his superior's version of flirting. He scowled mentally, but didn't say anything... yet. Soundwave wasn't someone he could just hit, not like Thundercracker.

"Two femmes and three mechs are watching from a platform, separate from the crowd," she began, trying to translate still images and sensations into a coherent story. "I don't remember what, but it's a _big_ deal, this fight. I'm on the floor, standing with others in a line. Maybe a dozen? Meches and femmes, we're there together, ready to fight for some prize.

"There's a femme on the platform, she's in charge. Pairs us up..." she abruptly stopped mid-air as it hit her. "Ezara. My name is Ezara."

"Very good," Soundwave encouraged her. "Keep traveling; we can continue once we're back."

"All right," she nodded and focused on incorporating her flight characteristics into her reflexes until they saw a tanker ship below them. "Our target?"

"Affirmative," Soundwave confirmed after a few moments to confer with Laserbeak. "Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Squawkbox - Operation: Blitzkrieg."

"About time!" Rumble announced as he was ejected and transformed, descending towards the undefended tanker ship along with Skywarp, Wanderer, and Soundwave.

"What are these critters?" Ezara asked as she landed on the deck and opened fire on the crew as they scattered, leaving three dead and two others unable to move.

"Native life form: Humans," Soundwave explained. "Dominant intelligent life; they will be subjugated in time." The rest of the defenders, such as they were, fled quickly, hurrying for cover or for lifeboats. "Not worth the energy to exterminate. I will convert their fuel to Energon."

"And I'll be ready for transport, after I've recharged," Skywarp agreed with a grin. "Starscream will blow a circuit when we get back!"

"These are intelligent?" Ezara picked one of her kills up skeptically and examined it. "They seem too small for that."

"They built the ship," Skywarp shrugged, ripping open an access to the oil reserves in the ship. "How big were your planet's organics?" He asked, before changing to his jet form and opening his bays for Rumble and Frenzy to load while Soundwave filled the cubes and Ezara studied the process before lending a hand.

"Smaller than me, but not that small," she said as she handed a full cube to Frenzy and began to fill the next. "How many days will this haul last the base?"

"With what we're planning to take tomorrow, we'll be covered for a few decaorn. If we can get further ahead, that's always best, of course. If we can ship any back to Cybertron over the space bridge, that's always best," Skywarp explained.

"What are the rules on raiding?" she asked, doing some quick mental math.

"Let Megatron know most of the time - he doesn't mind the raids, but he doesn't want us attracting attention unless he wants it," Skywarp told her as he was loaded up, sending a command to have Frenzy load the next cube into his fuel cells so he could recharge. "Not too much of it, at any rate. He has his own plans to take the planet for energy, and interruptions screw those up."

"Understood," she nodded. "Why does Cybertron need more energy than it can produce?"

"Cybertron: Entirely mechanical," Soundwave explained as he came up. "Capable of sustaining stasis; expansion requires additional resources. Sufficient reserves taken; have sent signal for additional transports. We should return."

"All right," Ezara finished filling the cube she was holding and took off, absorbing it as she watched Skywarp used the long flat deck to take off in jet mode in fascination. "I don't suppose you can make a datacard for me with the basics of this world and Cybertron?" she asked Soundwave as they flew towards their base.

"Affirmative," he told her. "It will be ready after tomorrow's operation."


	2. First Strike

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: PG-13 for Violence  
_Codes_: Het, Violence  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Megatron's plans for his newest warrior go better than he could have anticipated when the Autobots play right into his hands.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 02: First Strike**

* * *

"Soundwave tells me you can transform and that you remember your name," Megatron said as Ezara walked into the main control room with the black Seeker.

"Yes, Lord Megatron. I was called Ezara and I have two alternate forms available now," she nodded. "Do you wish to see them?"

"Yes," Megatron nodded. "I wish to see you in combat as well. A sparring match with one of my warriors."

"Gladly, My Lord," her optics glittered with a real fire and eagerness for conflict that hadn't been there even ten joor before. Without a second thought she contorted her shape, her transformation complex on a level that boggled the processors watching, but it finished in a dull silver-gray creature that stood just a bit taller than Ravage. That's where the similarities ended though. She had six legs, thick and solid like her body, and a large, deep mouth of viciously sharp teeth.

"Reminiscent. Earth animal; Wolverine." Soundwave said as he considered the strange, six-limbed, tailless beast scuttling around to let Megatron see all sides.

"A beast from your homeworld?" Megatron asked her, considering the powerfully built animal form. It would be a delightful surprise to spring on the Autobots, particularly if her third form offered her any particular tactical options.

"Origin: myth. Called: No'cotae." She turned her wide, broad head towards him. "A nightmare beast of the creatures who created my kind."

"Any particular abilities beyond physical combat?" He asked her. They might want to adapt this form slightly ... it didn't have any apparent ability to fight at a distance, which could be a weakness in the long run.

"It is nearly impervious to kinetic and energy damage, and next to nothing can stop the claws or teeth, My Lord," she said. "It digs well, and can recharge by eating almost anything, organic or otherwise. It is my primary combat form. Relatively slow but nearly unstoppable. I can load missiles and other weapons to use in this form, weak lasers from the eyes and when I have sufficient reserves, I can energize the armor and jaws to jumble the circuits of anything that touches me."

"Excellent," he nodded. "Any specific type of missiles, or the standard models you saw at the base fit your launcher?"

"What I saw here should work," she nodded and made a short hop upwards before transforming again, her body displaying its full complexity before coming to a stop a few inches above the floor in a low-profile, sleek sporty hover-car with a stealth fighter's angles and the high-gloss chrome finish of her base form. It would stand out on Earth, but it had an aesthetic that would fit in on Cybertron well. "Missile launcher, lasers up front, but it's mostly about covering a lot of ground fast."

"And you can transform at speed?" He asked her.

"Unless I have a very good reason," she said as she transformed to her base form. "I prefer to keep it under ... twenty decarun a nanoklik or so, but the only real limit is how much damage I'm willing to take when feet hit the ground."

"I was thinking about how much you might be able to _do_, shifting to your beast form in the middle of a charge," he said, stroking his chin. "It would be quite a surprise for the Autobots."

"Oh yes," she agreed as she caught onto the idea. "It can do a great deal of damage too, as long as the target has less armor than I do. I prefer that kind of tactic against close-quarters groups, where charging the armor can take down more than just the one or two I hit on the first impact."

"We'll keep it in mind," he nodded. "Do you have a built-in weapon, in your regular form?"

"The same lasers and missiles as the other forms for range, and a handful of close-quarters weapons," she told him before drawing two sai from her main body. "Small but effective at what they do."

"This is as good a time as any to demonstrate that, then," he nodded while she put her sai back. "Starscream!"

"I'm ready, I'm ready," he said grumpily, stepping forward.

Ezara turned to face him, her body dropping into a combat crouch as they faced off. "Any rules, Lord Megatron?" she asked as she studied her opponent.

"Don't kill him," Megatron smirked.

"Understood," she grinned.

"I'll do the same," Starscream smirked at her, adjusting his stance a bit as he tried to assess her. Privately, he had to admit that the mechanism across from him bore almost no resemblance in manner to the one he'd carried here less than an orn before. This one looked willing and eager to take on the universe.

With a flash of movement he grunted in surprise as much as the impact of her vehicle mode that knocked him off his feet before he was even aware that she'd charged.

He twisted around, taking off even as he fell, clearing some distance and climbing to about fifty feet as he opened fire with his blasters. He had about as much luck hitting her as he did an Autobot, but it kept her distracted as he fired, directing her to a corner where he could pin her down.

"What the?" Starscream couldn't believe his optics when her _car_ mode went strait up the wall, then across the ceiling as she returned fire, targeting his legs; his ability to fly.

"She will be quite a surprise for the Autobots," Thundercracker smirked was he watched his wingmate dodge lasers from a car driving on the ceiling.

Her shots glanced off, too weak to do any real damage, and he ducked under her as she roared across the ceiling, firing a stream of energy ahead of her, cutting the ceiling and causing it to peel down in front of her.

"Tactics: unexpected," Soundwave commented as she slammed the accelerator down, apparently trying to build the momentum to break threw the barrier, only to ride the damage like she did in climbing the walls.

It shot her around, almost a full 180 with little loss of momentum, and she abruptly disengage her engine, dropping from the ceiling damage and transforming into her feral mode to slam into Starscream's head and upper body. Her thick body bounced slightly off his back as her thick claws and maw full of deadly teeth dug in to hold on as she thrashed.

"Savage, too," Thundercracker added in approval. "I hope the Autobots try and stop us today. See what she does in real combat."

"Get off of me!" Starscream snarled, twisting to try and throw her off, though he held her up easily enough, albeit swerving in the air as he did.

"Oh, they will," Megatron promised with deadly glee. "I've made sure of it."

Starscream managed to get his arm up under her, and fired his nullifier into her underbelly. As she froze on top of him, he twisted to throw her to the ground beneath him, finishing the job by blasting her helpless body before he landed and kicked her in the side for good measure.

"I believe you underestimated me, Lord Megatron," he said with a sneer as he turned towards his leader, ignoring the faint flickers as his Nullifier began to wear off.

"No," Megatron chuckled. "You're in no shape to join us in the fight now. It's not bad work for someone who could barely walk an orn ago."

Ezara barely twitched a servo when she regained control of her body. She took the first moment to assess the situation; no one was aiming at her, nothing was damaged ... and Starscream has his back mostly to her, bragging about how pathetic she was.

Everyone but Skywarp was focused on him. He wasn't exactly rushing to her aid, but he was watching her instead of anyone else. It was a start. Besides, he probably knew more about just how much - or little, as the case might be - damage Starscream had actually done than any of the others.

With a private smile, she partially cloaked herself by bending the light around her low, wide form and carefully moved closer to the arrogant red and white Seeker, positioning herself behind him and waited. She was aware that everyone but her target now knew she was up and moving, and they were apparently willing to let to do as she pleased in stalking her opponent.

Starscream turned to motion to where she had been, placing his back square with her position. Without a sound, and before he could register that she wasn't where he left her, she lunged and closed her jaws around his forearm, destroying his nullifier.

"What?" Starscream gasped before the pain of having his right forearm crushed with his blaster in her jaws took over his awareness.

She didn't bother answering before she twisted her powerful frame to the side and up, tossing him with her full strength into the wall behind them. She continued the momentum, landing on her hands in her base form and pushed up to follow him into the air. She drew a sai in each hand and drove one through each forearm and into the floor below before twisted off the wall behind him to land on the canopy at the center of his chest.

"Do you yield?" she asked, staring down at him calmly.

"The match was over!" He protested through the pain shooting through his circuits. "I could have killed you, if I'd wanted to!"

"Yes, you probably could have," she acknowledge without issue. "The point is, I didn't yield." She cocked her head slightly. "Are you this careless in a real battle, where down but not out can get you killed?"

"In a real battle, I'd have blown out your optics!" He snarled up at her angrily. "What was I supposed to do - put you back in the repair bay?!?"

"Keep your optics and a weapon on me until I yield," she told him calmly. "Like I'm doing. I'll point out that everyone else saw what I was doing and did nothing to warn you, or stop me. Do you yield?"

"You'll pay for this," he promised her angrily, his eyes flaring with rage. "Yes, I yield! For now."

If he hadn't been leaking energy, he'd have gone into her head and made her regret it _now_, but he'd have to wait for the opportunity. But he _would_ have it, eventually. Megatron humiliating him was bad enough - he wasn't going to allow this female to do the same.

She nodded and pulled the sai out without hesitation, slid them back into her torso, and offered him a hand up.

He got up on his own, glaring over at his subordinates - particular Skywarp and Thundercracker - as he limped away, cradling his badly damaged arms as he tried not to think about the beating he'd just taken.

"You really do perk up with a little energy," Megatron's voice oozed approval, much to Starscream's irritation.

"Thank you, My Lord," she grinned at him, all but beaming at the simple praise. "I am ready to fight."

"I'll be in the repair bay," Starscream stated simply, leaving the room alone.

"And fly?" Megatron raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, My Lord," she stood proudly, not a trace of the frightened creature they'd hauled back the day before.

"Then Decepticons, to the air!" Megatron ordered with a gleeful determination.

* * *

"Optimus, Teletraan-1 is picking up Decepticon movement," Wheeljack spoke up. "I believe the alien we helped yesterday is with them."

"Do you have a restraint system prepared yet?" Optimus Prime asked as he stood and picked up his blast rifle.

"As ready as she'll ever be, without a test," Wheeljack confirmed. "Prowl's swapped his shoulder cannons out for the net launchers."

"Good," Optimus Prime nodded. "Remember, Megatron has likely convinced her we are the enemy, and we're about to try and capture her. It's unlikely to go over well."

"Way better than lettin' her stay with them Decepticreeps," Jazz piped up. "Everyone's ready to roll, Prime."

"All right then - Autobots, transform and roll out!" Prime ordered them, shifting forms and heading for the exit, hoping they'd reach the Decepticon's target in time.

"How messed up do you think her head can get in a orn?" Bluestreak asked over the radio.

"That depends on what's happened," Ratchet responded. "It's always hard to tell. If she's with them, they've probably repaired and recharged her - and she may feel like she owes them her loyalty in exchange."

"Between Megatron and Soundwave, she could be completely reprogrammed by now," Ironhide said grimly.

"Why bother though?" Bumblebee asked. "I mean, wasn't she a pacifist, running scared?"

"Not even close," Ironhide said. "She moved and acted like a warrior who knew they're seriously out-classed and intended to fight another day. I've seen that in look in a couple good commanders."

"Megatron is a talented liar and manipulator," Optimus Prime added. "We must assume she has no knowledge of Cybertron or the Decepticons other than what they have told her."

"Which probably means we're the bad guys," Ratchet agreed. "At least to her. How they're justifying stealing resources, I don't know, but it's possible she doesn't have any compunctions about that after being on the run and probably having to steal everything she needed for Primus knows how long."

"I wish we knew what happened to the one who was chasing her," Prowl observed. "We might have found out what was going on, at least _one_ side of the story."

"Think they're trying to use her as bait to draw the other one in?" Spike suggested.

"We'll find out soon enough," Optimus said. "They're here."

"About time," Ironhide responded, shifting to his base form and raising his gun. "How many of them?" He asked Perceptor as he disembarked from Optimus Prime's trailer before their leader changed back.

"Looks like everybody but Starscream," Bluestreak said as the Decepticons noticed them and opened fire.

"Keep an eye on the sky for the bugger," Ironhide warned as everyone opened fire.

A little bit to the Autobot's relief, the alien was backing off, putting the real Decepticons between her and the firefight.

"Prowl," Optimus Prime alerted him to get moving.

"Yes, Sir," Prowl nodded and moved around the back of the line to sneak up on her.

"Try and keep them together," Prime ordered, the Autobots spreading out to try and corral the Decepticons.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, carpet bomb the Autobots!" Megatron ordered sharply as he transformed into his gun for Soundwave to use.

"Where the hell did she go?" Rumble grumbled, looking around for their newest member.

"Ignore her," Soundwave ordered. "Priority: Autobots."

He could tell where she was, of course - Rumble wasn't paying close enough attention, but as he took Megatron in hand, he could see what was. He aimed into the Autobots, firing Megatron's cannon into their lines, watching in satisfaction as they scattered.

He even knew _what_ she was doing thanks to her remarkable lack of shielding. All her best weapons were close quarters. She was trying to flank the Autobot lines to get in close, hopefully behind them, before launching her attack. It was a good plan, if the battle lasted.

She moved with a speed and stealth that had helped her survive millennia on the run, but this time she was the hunter, and it was a thrill she made no effort to reject.

Another shot from Soundwave, and Optimus Prime was in position for her to attack. Before she could strike though, Prowl launched a pair of missiles with an electrified net between them, the net wrapping around her to bring her down.

Her snarl of half-panicked outrage made Ravage and Laserbeak both cringe with their master in its high-pitched dissonance. It struck something deep inside Ravage and Laserbeak though, kicked up programming from deep in their core to help her.

"Grab her and go!" Optimus Prime ordered sharply, sending Ratchet to transform into an ambulance and drive over while Prowl tried to calm her.

"Prime!" Prowl called out in warning as she began an intricate transformation into a much smaller, broader, animalistic form as she rolled, shredding the net and twisting upright onto six large feet to charge Prowl with a snarl of raw fury.

He fired his blaster into her, trying to dodge out of the way as the others turned to help him. As she slammed into him, an energy discharge passed through his frame, scrambling his circuits as she tore into his arm, crushing his blaster while two feet worth of thick, long claws drove into his chassis, nearly ripping his chest plate off as it was torn open.

Prowl was only vaguely aware that Ratchet pulled him to safety under her when Optimus Prime's blast rifle redirected her attention.

"How the hell do you stop something that can take _that_?" Ironhide stared at her as everyone who could opened fire on her low charging form without making an impression. Not even Optimus Prime's blast riffle seemed to faze her.

"Like this," Ratchet said grimly, bringing his scrambler to bear and firing on Ezara as Optimus Prime fell back towards his trailer.

"She is _not_ yours!" Skywarp suddenly appeared above her in base form and grabbed her limp body before teleporting out.

"Okay, that was weird," Spike said.

"The Decepticons are retreating!" Sunstreaker called out.

"Casualties?" Optimus asked, looking between them, and to Jazz.

"I won't be able to transform like this," Prowl admitted, clutching his mangled arm and chest and trying very hard to convince Ratchet that he wasn't as badly damaged as they both knew he was. "I'll have to hitch a ride back with somebody."

"Ratchet can work on you in my trailer," Optimus told them both.

"Minor damage," Jazz reported. "Everyone else c'n drive back."

"That didn't go well," Sideswipe said.

"But her transformation is _amazing_," Perceptor said. "I never thought something that complex was possible."

"I'm glad you're impressed," Prowl grumbled, climbing into the trailer and settling down for the ride. "It was something else, but not something I want to be on the receiving end of again."

"It does confirm she is a Transformer and not a robot," Ratchet commented as he did what he could for Prowl in the back of the trailer. "Did you get anything from her when she was touching you?"

"Only that she enjoyed hurting. Anger. We have to get her out of Decepticon control, before Megatron uses her to do more damage," Prowl said, distracting himself from his injuries. "Anything that can take three solid hits from Prime's rifle is too tough for us to fight safely."

"Perceptor could have taken her down, but not non-lethally," Ratchet agreed. "Wheeljack and I will work on another restraint system for next time, preferably something energy based this time around. We should have more than a day too."

"I would really prefer not to kill," Perceptor added. "Especially not someone who is merely being mislead. So far, she has not actually attacked anyone without reason. Prowl and Prime both attacked her first, even if it was for her own good."

"You're starting to sound like she's a wild animal," Ratchet said with a touch of disapproval.

"Given her alternate form, that might not be too far off," Perceptor said.

"Given how she behaved when we first ran into her and what I felt, it might not be," Prowl agreed, wincing as Ratchet welded a piece back into place. "Your scrambler seemed to slow her down - maybe something that would work like that. Or like the energy trap we caught Ratchet in that one time."

"My scrambler is our best bet," Ratchet raid. "We just have to grab her before Skywarp does."

"Odd, don't you think, what he said when he grabbed her?" Perceptor asked.

"Sorry, I was too busy trying not to bleed to death to notice," Prowl said dryly.

"He said that she wasn't ours," Ratchet told him. "Not the typical reason given, or a typical retrieval."

* * *

"Gonna rip that bot to shreds!" Ezara gurgled, her circuits only half on line as she rode down the lift with the other Decepticons. Skywarp was still carrying her, and that was the only reason she wasn't trying to kill something _now_.

"You'll get your chance," Megatron promised her as Skywarp put her on her feet and let her just lean against him. "This was a successful raid, Ezara - your damage was nothing compared to what you inflicted."

"Thank you, My Lord," she managed to lift her head to look at him; the fire and hatred in her optics a pleasure for Megatron to see. "Want names, weapons. Ready next time."

"Soundwave will fill you in on what we know," Megatron promised as the doors opened.

"Thank you, Lord Megatron," she said before sinking against Skywarp chest again.

"Well, she looks even more pathetic than before," Starscream sneered as he got a look at the returning raiding party.

"She came closer to killing Prowl and Prime than you ever have," Megatron chuckled darkly. "If it wasn't for their medic and his scrambler, I'd have Prime's head as a trophy today. _And_ we retrieved most of what we were after while they were busy with her."

"You should have seen it," Thundercracker was enjoying seeing Starscream fume too much not to prod him even more. "She took three solid hits from Prime's rifle and didn't even slow down. Damn near tore Prowl to shreds. It was great!"

"Medic," Ezara focused to make her vocal mechanism work, though her body was getting steadier. "Who is he?"

"The Autobot medic?" Skywarp asked.

"Yes," she growled with a jerk of her chin up.

"Ratchet," Skywarp said. "He's the only one with that scrambler thing."

"Good. Dead soon," she hissed, relaxing slightly as her legs steadied.

"Yes, they will all be dead soon, with your help," Megatron almost purred. "You should be fine in a few more minutes," he reassured her.

"Them, and that traitor," Ezara focused on her rage quit eagerly. "Death to all enemies."

"Traitor?" Soundwave prompted her as she pushed off slightly from Skywarp's support and managed to keep her feet.

"The one after me," she said with a slightly uncertain expression. "Not sure why I think he is, yet."

"Yes, we will hunt him down as well," Megatron promised her. "It will be a glorious hunt. Decepticons - those of you who took part in the raid, recharge and celebrate. We have time before our next operation," he informed them grandiosely.

"At least he didn't start working with the Autobots - that means he'll be the one on the run this time," Thundercracker agreed as the rest of the raiders started to disperse.

"So what is a celebration here?" Ezara asked Skywarp with a hungry look that was easy even for his limited processor to understand, and it sent a thrill through his body.

"I'll show you what a real Seeker can do," Thundercracker swaggered up behind her and slid his hands down her shoulders.

"Oh?" she looked over her shoulder at him with a challenging grin. "I've seen your special talent, and Skywarp's is much more ... exciting."

"You like chasing, huh? That's mostly what it's good for," Thundercracker smirked. "How do you like being chased?"

"Just fine," Skywarp responded, appearing behind Thundercracker and pulling him back. "And it _is_ good for a few other things, 'partner.'"

Ezara watched them as the verbal sparing escalated, enjoying being the subject of interest too much to stop it, even if Thundercracker didn't really have as much appeal.

"Just what _is_ it about the dimwit you like so much?" Thundercracker suddenly demanded.

"I like his looks, and he's creative where it counts," she answered, placing a hand on Thundercracker's chest. "What do you have to offer that he doesn't?" she purred in challenge even as she brushed against his central processor in a clear invitation to try and prove he was the better bot.

He grinned at her, and she felt the full force of his personality trying to force its way into her processors in response. Before she could become more than a touch aware of the force coming at her and mount more than an reflexive a defense, the link was disconnected when Skywarp slammed his fist into the side of Thundercracker's head and sent him staggering back to the wall, to the cheers of the other Decepticons still there.

"Break it up!" Starscream snarled at them both, stepping between them. "The Seekers, fighting over some newcomer! Straighten up and act like soldiers!" He shouted at them in irritation, particularly Thundercracker.

"I have your data," Soundwave offered Wanderer. "Do you want to leave the rabble?" He suggested.

"Enie," she flicked her chin up.

"Enie: word of agreement," Soundwave answered Megatron's questioning look. "Language: occasional mistakes."

"I'll leave the two of you be then," Megatron agreed, heading off to begin working on his next plan.


	3. Inside a Broken Mind

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Soundwave/Ezara, Ravage/Ezara  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/F  
_Codes_: Het, BDSM, Torture, Humiliation, Violence  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Soundwave spends a very long time working on the inside of Ezara's mind.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 03: Inside a Broken Mind**

* * *

"Laboratory, this way," Soundwave told her, leading the way away from the brawl that was threatening to break out over her.

Ezara gave Skywarp a flirting wink over her shoulder as she left and mouthed 'later, hot stuff'. He noticed, but didn't have a chance to respond before Thundercracker got around Starscream and slugged him, the sounds of the fight echoing behind them as she followed Soundwave.

"Seekers are all fools," Soundwave offered. "Fighting too long."

"Something I have in common with them," she pointed out without offence. "It's all I remember ever doing."

"You remember more than that," he reassured her. "Not yet, but you have it. You know how to do more than fight. Somebody just needs to bring it out of you," he explained as they went into a perfectly quiet area of the base.

"You think you can?" she asked softly, looking around his lab. "I'd like to remember."

"I have my ways," he said, with something that almost sounded like a chuckle. "It may be painful, but I can break through the time."

"Pain hasn't bothered me in a very long time," she assured him with the same easy confidence that Megatron had. "Where do we start?"

"Inside your mind," he told her. "Open to interface with me; I can explain inside."

Ezara flicked her chin to the right and sat down when he motioned to a bench. Her chest opened, the cover integrating into the rest of her frame, to expose a plug for him. "Go ahead."

He sealed his lab, setting the security so that nobody could interrupt them except Megatron, and plugged in, entering her mindscape. He was privately surprised at the mix of solid and energy storm, but even more by how open she was. Much of her was a chaotic jumble of seemingly random sparks and swirls, and the occasional understandable memory fragment. There was just one very solid, very real and stable space.

It even came with a label of sorts, though it took him a moment to translate.

The label seemed to flicker between 'Happy Place' and 'Safe Place', but the intent was clear enough. It was where she indulged in pleasure.

She knew Cybertronian, but her mind was still in her native code and wasn't completely willing to have him wandering free. _She_ wasn't completely willing to wander out here, in the realm where she long ago had surrendered control in exchange for survival.

"You will have order when I am done," Soundwave told her when she became a vaguely recognizable energy-form of her base body, yet another mark of how much of her self-awareness she had lost.

"That'll be different," Ezara murmured, a little uneasy about intentionally mucking around in her long abandoned life.

"We will work from the stable portions of your mind, for now," he explained to her, before taking them both there in a flash. "Taming the instabilities will take more control than you are willing to grant now." He spoke more normally here, where it was mind to mind, rather than translated through the speech patterns familiar to somebody who had spent countless vorn interrogating subjects with rudimentary grasps of Cybertronian at best.

"All right," she flicked her chin up. "This is where I spend most of my down time."

"I imagine," he nodded, looking around. "Do you have a form you're more comfortable in?"

"In here, this one," she solidified into blue-furred, flat-faced felinoid of sorts, still taller than he was. "I haven't needed a solid form elsewhere."

"Understandable," he agreed, modifying his own form to be similar to hers, but taller, more muscular, and very imposing. It also sparked a response he wasn't expecting: desire. "The procedure will be much like an interrogation. Do you have a data packet on your language?"

She flicked her chin up and walked over to a small chest in one corner of the opaque crystal room. Though it opened easily for her, he caught enough of the unlocking sequence to realize just how well-secured it was.

Whoever Ezara had been, she had learned how to protect her knowledge early and well.

She reached in and picked up a white, glowing crystal from a set of six, each a different color. Before she shut the lid and relocked it, he saw that there was a duplicate already in its place.

"This is as much as I still have," she explained and handed it over.

As Soundwave absorbed the data, he realized why she had said that. The crystal, up close, looked cracked, and there were large sections of linguistic data that were simply missing as well as parts that were corrupted beyond recognition.

Mostly military in nature, but also scientific.

It was still more than he had to work with on most aliens. He patched the data over to Squawkbox, letting him work on processing and parsing it, building a translation matrix that they could use later to extrapolate from the data swirling outside the confines of this room.

"The first thing I will do is begin to break down your resistance and control over what is outside," he explained. "Once I have improved control, I will begin defragmentation of the data outside. Order will be restored as I repair the fragmented data blocks and analyze your architecture. I _will_ take care not to inflict any lasting damage in the process."

"All right," she flicked her chin up and to the right, a motion he now knew to be the equivalent of a nod of agreement. Left would be negative. Down was a warning, a protective movement to guard the most vulnerable part of her bio-form. "What do you want me to do, besides not fight you?"

"Fighting me will not be a concern," he chuckled lowly. "You do not have conscious control over most of your blocks, part of the reason you are having difficulty accessing the information." He put a hand firmly on her shoulder, pushing her down onto seat. "My process will break down those barriers." He took a moment to bring Ravage into the link, letting him slink into the room in the powerful, biological panther form he'd adopted shortly after they'd awoken on Earth.

Ravage prowled around, letting Ezara see him. It wasn't lost on either of them that she crooned at him, and she wasn't even aware of it.

"If you do fight me, I'll simply work harder. If you are willing to submit, then place your hands together."

Ezara took her eyes off Ravage and focused on Soundwave again as she brought her palms together. There was a tendril of uncertainty, of resistance, from deep inside her psyche, but overall she as an open data block for what she did have control over.

She wanted this, wanted what he was offering, and badly.

Soundwave focused for a moment, establishing what control he could, and forming an energy band around her wrists, binding them together. He looked down at her, considering what he knew of her personality.

There were multiple ways to do what he was going to, of course. Some beings responded more quickly to pain, others to degradation. He had a feeling the latter approach would be the one that would work best on Ezara, which had its advantages. Pain could cripple a subject, and one they wanted to have with them in battle couldn't afford that. On the other hand, he had to avoid breaking her spirit as well - that would be worse than damaging her would be.

"How long has it been, since you had your control taken away?" He asked her, creating the implements he would need. "Since you didn't have the choice to run from what you didn't want to endure?"

"Since before He started hunting me," she answered as best she could, her heart rate already spiking as it occurred to her just what she'd volunteered to endure.

"It will happen again," he told her, considering his tools. He placed a hand on her head, and ran his fingers through her short blue fur. "Pride, ego, will... they will not help you." He slid short claws out from the ends of his fingers, and raked them along her virtual flesh, experimenting with little spikes of pain along her circuits.

First was just a gasp; surprise at the sensation, but as it continued and deep red blood began to ooze a low sound, like a whimper, came from her throat and she gritted her teeth to endure this as she had all things. The impulse to struggle, to pull away and flee was there, it was strong, but she looked up at her tormentor with a trust that he'd never witnessed before.

She was fighting herself more than him, trying to help him by not resisting his actions.

He'd never had a plaything like this. Even if it was, technically, for the Decepticon cause, he was going to enjoy her. Autobots and prisoners would always shut down before he could really crack them open ... she was fighting to let him do just that, which was giving this biological form several new sensations to enjoy.

He slid his claws down her cheek, opening a long, shallow cut before he pulled them back in and ran his fingers down her throat.

"Have you ever mixed pain with your pleasure before?" He asked her coolly.

"Yes," she flicked her chin up. "I enjoyed it, and submission."

"Then you should enjoy this very much," he chuckled, stepping back and selecting the handle of an energy whip from the implements he'd made for himself, extending the lash and giving it a few experimental swings to adjust to the new body. He knew her eyes were on him the entire time. She wasn't exactly sure how this was going to help, and she looked less than thrilled, but she remained still and willing to accept that he knew what he was doing.

He could feel the questions, and that she didn't feel much need to voice them.

Very subtle, but there, was also a current of interest, almost anticipation, that this could feel good in the end.

He patched Laserbeak in, having him explore the maelstrom, watching for any other stable patches, or areas that were becoming more decipherable. He drew back the lash, and swung it at Ezara, expertly slashing her breasts just above her nipples, then below them on the return, the whip flaring each time it discharged, their minds supplying the scent of singed fur.

As pain shot through her body she cried out sharply, a reflexive objection to a sensation that meant danger, but the undercurrent, so obvious here in the heart of her mindscape, was arousal. Hunger for his body, for more.

"Do you think you deserve me?" He asked her. "That you deserve to give me pleasure?" His body's shaft hardened as he watched her respond, but he ignored it as Ravage prowled around behind the bed. Soundwave struck again, this time curling the lash around the sides of her breast, leaving a black streak along her side, curling around to her back.

"Yes," a sudden flair of spirit came from that place beyond the lost memories, from the very core of her psyche. "Better than you too."

"Ambitious, but you're reaching _far_ too high," he chuckled. "You say you should be with the leaders of the Decepticons, but you spend your time thrilled at being fought over by the rabble and grunts. I don't think you even deserve them." He stepped close, retracting the lash and pressing the handle against her face. "You are nothing," he told her darkly, leaning in close. "You don't even rate with the humans."

Her willingness to cooperate evaporated with a flare of raw rage at the insult, and Soundwave abruptly found himself on his back with the full weight of her robotic bestial form on top of him.

"Then we're about to find out if I can _take_ what I claim," she growled, locking Ravage in a crystalline cage where he stood as she slammed squarely into Soundwave's mind.

He'd been expecting this would happen, though he hadn't expected her to be able to break his bonds so easily - clearly, he didn't have enough control over her mindscape yet. There was an easy solution to that, though.

He cut the links that Laserbeak and Ravage had with her mental processes, and began pulling back into his own, knowing she would follow. He left the maelstrom and her crystalline chamber behind, for now, retreating to his old Cybertronian quarters... or at least an area that looked like them.

When she found him, he would show her just what she was up against.

He was more than a touch surprised when he realized that she was sneaking in, half cloaked and in the ventilation shaft. It countered everything he had witnessed so far of her. She was the frontal assault type, not the stealthy assassin.

He improved his assessment of her tactical abilities, adjusting his tactics to match. He moved away from the vents, giving her time to arrive as he loaded a program of his own design, and opened his interfaces with all of his cassettes.

He knew she was in the room, he could sense how close she was, but his other senses told him she was everywhere or nowhere. He still had enough warning when the first attack launched. A robotic serpent, a constrictor with venomous fangs, sprang from a shadow to coil around him.

Squawkbox materialized, lunging and grabbing the constrictor by its throat, using his massive strength to pry it off.

"Initiate program: Crushed Hopes," Soundwave commanded.

The room changed. No entrance, no exit, no furniture. His quarters were replaced with his interrogation room, and all the amenities it would have had. In the past, he'd used this to cripple subjects who'd thought they'd escaped.

Here, it gave him an arsenal he could use like no other. He grabbed a stunner, and jammed it into the serpent, sending a massive current through its body. Here, in _his_ mind, under _his_ rules, he and his aides were completely protected from it.

The massive snake writhed and convulsed in on itself, even as she struggled to transform into the brute of her feral form, a nearly invulnerable one, and lunged at him again fearlessly.

It reminded him of a too-brief time he had the Autobot Ironhide under his control. A fighter to the end, unyielding, and absolutely savage once cornered.

Ironhide had escaped him, eventually. She wouldn't be so lucky.

She wasn't trying to escape.

She was trying to kill.

He dodged out of the way of her lunge, tempted to return to his energy form, but knowing that wouldn't prove his point. Instead, he had Frenzy join the fray, turning his potent destructive voice against Ezara, sweeping it over her location to disorient her.

Her bestial form shook its head, opened its maw and screamed back, a nearly perfect echo of what she'd been hit with, only backed by a personality as forceful as any they'd encountered.

He had to give her credit, she learned fast.

However, while she was busy, Ravage was able to get around behind her, leaping on top of her and biting into the cabling at the base of her neck, disabling her ability to charge her chassis.

Without so much as a snarl, she rolled over on top of him, extending sharp spikes to impale him between the floor and her much greater weight.

Soundwave moved in, picking her up and slamming her to the wall by the throat, pinning her arms back as he began to squeeze, willing himself to be able to resist her flailing kicks and attacks.

He knew the instant he'd made the right impression. Not because she settled down, but because she drew on her full reserves to transform into the serpent again. Though he still had her by the throat, her long, powerful body wrapped around his, constricting for all she was worth, calling on and using reserves of power he had no idea where they were coming from.

He doubted she knew either. She was fighting for her life and holding nothing back.

He could feel his shell yielding, slightly, but he knew it wouldn't matter outside of here.

"Surrender," he told her. "I can keep this up longer than you," he added, tightening his grip.

She hissed, angry, and squeezed all the harder. His shell cracked, yielding to her strength, but he could also feel her weakening.

He had few doubts that he'd have to force her unconscious. He could. It would hurt, but he was the stronger one here.

Just a little more and he'd have the submission of her core, the warrior that kept her alive even when she was running scared.

That would get him the acceptance he needed for the rest of the process... and he would enjoy making her pay for the pain and effort. He ordered Squawkbox to stay down, and gripped her tail in the other hand, starting to pry it loose.

As she weakened, he wrenched more and more of her serpent body loose. A moment, a final surge of power, crushed around him, nearly shattering one arm as it was was locked against his torso. He pressed against her throat a little more, and she went limp.

"You are strong," he told the unconscious warrior as she reverted to her base form and slid to the ground. "But I am stronger here."

Despite his injuries, he knelt over her, grabbed both her wrists in his good arm and pinned them over her head as he straddled her body.

"I know you can hear me," he said coldly. "Yield."

"Nnn," Ezara struggled to find enough coherent energy to respond.

"Yield," he repeated when he felt her tense under him. She didn't have the strength left to do much though, and it wasn't long before she went lax.

"I yield," she said weakly, a touch of fire still in her, but no longer turned on him.

He took a moment to repair his mental form, and those of his Cassettes, Ravage grumbling non-too-quietly about her tactics.

"Take us back to your mindscape," he instructed her. "We'll resume there."

She complied, submissive but not broken. It was everything he hoped for. She should end this a stronger, better Decepticon. Megatron would prefer her that way, as well.

Once they were back in her mindscape, he waited for her to adopt her bio-form before he tossed her onto the bed and did the same.

"Restrain yourself," he ordered her. "On your hands and knees."

There was no hesitation this time. Leather straps secured her wrists and her spread knees. Her short feathery-like tail flicked to the right, exposing herself for him.

"You seemed to like Ravage earlier. Does he remind you of somebody?" Soundwave asked, taking on the bio-form he'd been using before as Ravage growled lowly and circled around his legs.

"I think so," she answered. "Not sure what, just ... nice."

"Well, it's a good thing that you appreciate him. As I was going to say before - I think that he's more your speed, for a partner." Ravage jumped up onto the bed, licking her exposed sex with his sandpapery tongue.

A low whimper escaped her throat, but it was more in anticipation than pain or distress.

It was easy now, with the encryption codes to her active processors, to read her responses. She was hungry for any attention, and Ravage suited her as much as he would, though he couldn't miss how much she wanted him.

That would come later; a reward for her, to encourage her to break down the barriers she still had around her programming. As Ravage mounted her, Soundwave watched more or less dispassionately, monitoring Laserbeak's search for items of interest.

It didn't take the avian mech long to report back that there was a very large, very solid section of memories that seemed to be intact, but they were locked with security protocols that were meant to kill the owner before they were broken.

The panther slid his barbed shaft into Ezara's sex, letting out a low, satisfied growl. He hadn't really had the chance to do this since Cybertron. As he began to thrust, she squeezed her body down around him, careless of the pain it caused as long as it encouraged the mech to move faster and thrust harder.

"What is in this area?" Soundwave asked her, raising the mental image.

"What I was," she answered, only to look shocked when she heard her own words. "I still know that?"

"It seems so," he said as Ravage continued to breed her. "Can you disable the security willingly?"

She tried to focus past Ravage, to put her full attention on the enormous block of her mind and the locks on it. Her first touch sent off a charge that nearly electrocuted everyone touching her mind before she managed to pull away.

"Not with what I know now," she struggled to her hands and knees again, panting as she put her circuits back in order.

"Evidently not. It will come in time," he said, returning the information to its place, Ravage and Ezara both trying to recover for a few minutes before the panther was ready to start thrusting again.

"Not soon enough," she moaned, pressing back into Ravage's thrusts.

The feline roared, climaxing inside of her, grinding his hips against hers as his tail lashed and he bit down on her scruff. It had her right on the edge, and she whimpered, squeezing her body around him as she pushed back, trying to encourage him to keep going.

Ravage's eyes rolled towards Soundwave, who chuckled and climbed up on the bed in front of Ezara.

"Give me access, when I want it, to whatever parts of your mind you haven't secured, and we'll both give you what you want," he told her.

Her hesitation had more to do with working out what he was asking for than any resistance to it. "Yes," she twitched her chin up, her eyes on his large, hard cock and how badly she wanted what he was offering.

He slid under her, pressing his shaft into her next to Ravage's, accessing her memories of what she enjoyed in sex and quickly integrating it into his own tastes... for now. He kissed her, starting to thrust, his shaft sliding along Ravage's inside her as the panther began to fuck her again as well, her body stretched tight around them both.

The pair hadn't gotten a rhythm down before she stiffened and cried out sharply, her energy flowing freely to the two males. Soundwave kissed her hungrily and continued to thrust. He'd have left her drained anyway, but knowing it was high on her kink list to be exhausted this way made it that much more appealing.

He would enjoy rebuilding her mind a great deal.


	4. TMI Assault

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Jazz/Ezara  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/F  
_Codes_: Het, Violence  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Megatron's latest plan doesn't go quite as planned, and it goes very badly for Ezara.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 04: TMI Assault**

* * *

"Soundwave, report," Megatron ordered when his trusted lieutenant walked into the room.

"Progress: exceptional," the mech responded before taking a seat around the briefing room table. "Cooperation: full. Remote access: granted."

"Excellent. What is she doing now?" Megatron asked with absent curiosity.

Soundwave paused to silently check on her. "Activity: cyber battle with Thundercracker."

"Who started it?" Megatron arched an eyebrow as Starscream walked in.

"Instigator: Thundercracker."

"Who's winning?" Starscream asked, fully expecting it to be the Seeker.

"Predicted victor: Ezara," Soundwave decided. "He underestimates her."

"What?" Starscream snarled.

"Make sure she doesn't do too much damage," Megatron ordered, noting the deepening scowl on Starscream with amusement. "I need him for this mission."

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Soundwave nodded.

"Anything interesting out of her mind yet?" Megatron smiled behind steepled fingers while Starscream took a seat.

"Damage: heavy. Primary type: prolonged inattention to maintenance. Concern: heavily secured memories, pre-exile. Access: restricted from her."

"She is willing to show you, but she can't unlock the security on them?" Megatron raised an eyebrow.

"Affirmative," Soundwave said. "Lock: intended to kill her before breaking."

"Interesting," Megatron murmured. "Can you tell how long she has been running?" he asked as he thought about it. It was the kind of thing a sleeper agent had, but it was also the kind of thing someone with valuable intelligence might do when they are on the run. Either way, she was more than just a simple gladiator or grunt, and she bore close watching.

"Precision: low," Soundwave warned him. "Estimate: between thirty-six and one hundred twenty vorn."

"Her entire civilization could have risen and fallen while we were in cold storage on this rock," Starscream muttered. "Have you been able to get any more information on where she came from?"

"Minimal; defragmentation of data will help, but will take time," Soundwave explained. "Laserbeak is monitoring her; she believes it is in case of her hunter."

"So what's our newest mission, oh glorious leader?" Starscream changed the focus.

"A massive source of power that the humans don't want to go anywhere near." Megatron brought up an image of a nuclear power plant. "They call it Three Mile Island. Inside those towers is an almost unlimited supply of energy, just waiting to be unleashed."

"How much damage will it do?" Starscream asked gleefully.

"It will easily irradiate the entire city, by the time we're done ... we will have to take some care ourselves, of course. But by the time we're finished, we should have enough energy to last all of Cybertron a vorn or more, and have cleared the entire region in the process."

"I like this plan," Starscream grinned, eager for the destruction. "What of the Autobots?"

"That's where you and the Seekers come in. You'll go to Alaska, and attack the oil pipeline they've built. If you have the chance to retrieve any energon, do so, but it should be a suitable distraction."

"Probability of success: 87.3%," Soundwave said.

"And fun," Starscream chuckled. "Those humans scatter like bugs."

"Be sure to enjoy yourselves," Megatron chuckled. "We'll let you know when to begin the attack; while you do, we'll plant collectors in the two facilities, and then start the reaction."

"We will be ready," Starscream said as he stood.

"Break up the fight and send whoever needs it to recharge," Megatron looked at Soundwave.

"Response, Ezara: I'm feeding," Soundwave reported. "Control: Imperfect."

"Starscream, go break it up," Megatron ordered. "And no one had better end up in the repair bay today."

"Location: Corridor 16, between Storage Bay 6 and 7," Soundwave supplied as Starscream walked out.

"At least somebody's watching her," Starscream muttered. "Not that they care that she's ripping the Decepticons apart from the inside out, from what _I_ can see," he added as he stalked through the halls.

He found them right where Soundwave said they'd be. While Thundercracker had her pinned against the wall, he was only barely standing, and her energy was off the top of Starscream's sensors. Thundercracker probably wasn't the first Decepticon she'd drained today.

"Okay you two, break it up," Starscream grabbed Thundercracker's arm, and instantly found himself on the receiving end of aggression that nearly knocked him back. She didn't broadcast any words, but the intent was clear: _MINE_ -- and she was more than willing to fight over the carcass.

"You little _mechenoid_," Starscream hissed as he pulled Thundercracker away. "He's _my_ Seeker."

"Ug," Thundercracker groaned as he pulled himself together from the psychic beating and draining he'd just taken. He shook his head and suddenly stiffened in something resembling fear as he looked around, trying to place where he was and what was going on.

"Go recharge," Starscream ordered curtly. "We have a mission."

"Y-yes, Starscream," Thundercracker agreed shakily, eyeing Ezara warily, and with no small amount of hatred.

"Not all ground-pounders are weak, flyboy," she told Thundercracker as he staggered away. "You're mine whenever I want you," she added with a low warning tone.

"Get recharged," Starscream ordered Thundercracker before he could turn around, and turned back on Ezara. "If we didn't have the energy, you'd have just risked Megatron's new mission, I hope you know," he told her.

"I wouldn't have risked a mission," she told him with an even tone, even as her temper flared. "I can give as well as take."

He snorted, shaking his head irritably. "If _my_ Seekers are being trouble, let _me_ know, and I'll decide what to do with them. Understood?"

"As long as they haven't already attacked me," she agreed, more than happy to use her height to look down at him to drive home the point that she didn't take orders from him.

"You might have Megatron and Soundwave wrapped around your fingers, but I'm watching you," he told her seriously, turning to walk away. He heard her walk the other way, and more than a little to his surprise, there was no attack, not even a grumble.

* * *

"Prime, we've got Decepticon activity up in Alaska," Jazz reported from his monitors. " Teletraan-1 picked up Starscream and the Seekers, but they're far enough out we could be missing the others."

"Who's on patrol in that area?" Optimus Prime asked, even as everyone within hearing perked up at the word 'Decepticon'.

"Ironhide, Sideswipe, Hound, and Brawn could all be there by the time they arrive," Prowl said after a quick consideration of his own monitors. "No support, but they'd be there."

"If it's just the three of them, they can handle it," Jazz offered. "It looks like they're headin' for the pipeline."

"I could go back them up," Ratchet offered from his station. "I'll coordinate with Blaster in case we need backup."

"Do it," Optimus Prime nodded. "Keep your sensors open. If it's all of them, stay back until we get there. If it's just those three, the others are planning something."

"We'll bust their chops," Ironhide responded over his comm. "Keep an eye out, and if you need backup, call us in."

"Just don't get yourself incinerated, old friend," Optimus replied with a slight shake of his head before focusing on Prowl again. "Megatron is up to something. Keep your optics peeled for the rest of them."

"I'm on it," Prowl promised as Ratchet transformed and drove off.

"Think we'll get a chance to field-test the new disruptor?" Wheeljack asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," he answered grimly. "If she is not with the Seekers, we might even manage to keep her long enough to talk some sense into her. Any sign of the second alien?" he glanced at Jazz.

"No, Sir," Jazz shook his head. "Whatever he's up to, he's been quiet as a Cyclopean tomb about it."

"I'm not sure if we should be worried, or grateful," Prime muttered to himself. He still remembered the punishment he'd taken in that fight - whatever weapon the alien had, it was very effective. It was a good thing the Decepticons hadn't managed to get their hands on it. What the femme could do was bad enough.

"My disruptor should work on him just as effectively," Wheeljack offered.

"I vote for worried," Spike said, looking at Teletraan-1's monitors. "At least if the first one is still on Earth."

"Hound and Brawn are on the scene in Alaska, Sideswipe and Ironhide will be there shortly," Jazz updated them. "No signs of other activity, yet."

"Prime, we have them on short range sensors, and it's just the three of them," Ironhide reported. "This'll be _fun_."

"Right, all fun and games until Megatron shows up," Bumblebee muttered. "Hate not knowing where that mega-creepticon is."

"He will show himself," Optimus Prime said evenly, his attention focused on the monitors. "He'd never send the Seekers alone if they weren't a distraction."

"Teletraan-1's checking all known major mineral deposits," Jazz informed them. "See if we can get ahead of the creeps."

"Look at power plants and weapon stockpiles too," Carly suggested. "Nuclear material contains a lot of power, and it's dangerous."

"Just the kind of thing Megatron would want," Spike agreed.

"We've got something in Pennsylvania," Prowl announced. "Near a nuclear plant in ... Harrisburg, apparently."

"Three Mile Island," Carly gasped and Spike groaned.

"A nuclear plant ... if it melts down again...." she started to explain.

"It could contaminate half the east coast," Wheeljack finished.

"That's not going to happen," Optimus Prime said grimly. "Jazz, let Ironhide and the others know to join us after the battle, if it's still going on. Wheeljack, bring the disruptor along."

"Yes, Sir," Jazz responded and quickly relayed the order before standing to join the others.

"Right," Wheeljack nodded.

"Bumblebee, Perceptor, Spike, Carly, stay here and guard the base," Optimus Prime ordered.

"But what if..." Carly started.

"Carly, you are brilliant, but nuclear reactors are old, old school for me," Wheeljack told her.

"Autobots! Transform and roll out," Optimus Prime ordered.

* * *

"Radiation levels are through the roof," Wheeljack observed as they approached the twin containment towers of Three Mile Island, it's alarm sirens blaring. The traffic getting through had been Hell ... but, on the bright side, they'd been the only ones trying to get _to_ the towers. Everybody else was trying to leave. "The humans should be all right as long as they get treatment soon. We'll be fine as long as it doesn't blow up."

"Any sign of Decepticons?" Optimus Prime asked those ahead of him.

"Negative, Prime," Jazz responded. "Radiation's playin' havoc with m' sensors."

"'Sides!" Sunstreaker nearly screamed over the radio from the back of the convoy before he fell silent.

The entire body of them transformed, turning to see Windcharger limp in his base form in the middle of the road. Sunstreaker's base form was being pulled behind one of the outbuildings, though they didn't spot by whom.

Prowl fired his shoulder cannons, blasting the top off the building even as the rest of the group ran for the spot, some to check on Windcharger and others to follow the drag marks left by Sunstreaker.

"It's her," Prowl said after a brief examination of the tracks next to the drag marks. "I'd recognize those paws anywhere."

"Wheeljack!" Optimus Prime called out.

"Ready, Prime," he ran up, taking the lead just behind Prowl and Trailbreaker with the new disruptor gun at the ready.

"Uhhh," a low groan drew their attention around the next corner, where Sunstreaker was sprawled out in the dirt. "My paint job!" he objected first, even before he struggled to his feet.

"You okay?" Wheeljack asked.

"Of course not!" he whined. "Just _look_ at me!"

"Which way did she go?" Prowl demanded, stopping what could be a very long list of complaints by the egotistical sports car.

"How should I know?" Sunstreaker snapped back. "I didn't even see what hit me!"

"What hit you was the female alien," Prowl informed him evenly. "She took out Windcharger too. Which way did she go?"

"Forget it. Prowl, Jazz, Wheeljack; track the alien," Optimus Prime ordered. "Hauler, stay with Windcharger. The rest of you, with me!" he turned back to the road to the Three Mile Island plant and the Decepticons that had to be close by.

In less than a mile and Sunstreaker was working his way up the line, using the side of the road when needed.

"Hay, what's gotten into you?" Gears groused when the bright yellow Lamborghini jostled by him.

"I think she scrambled his brain," Cliffjumper said.

"Sunstreaker, what is going on?" Optimus Prime asked more directly.

"Nothing, Prime," he assured his leader as he came up on the trailer, quickly overtaking the powerful eighteen-wheeler and suddenly swerved out, then in, jumping up and beginning a transformation that looked nothing like Sunstreaker's.

"Prime!" Wheeljack called out over the radio. "That Sunstreaker isn't the real one!"

"We noticed," Bluestreak replied over the sounds of blaster fire. "She just got Prime just behind the cab."

"I'm on my way," Wheeljack said, revving his engine to make the distance as fast as he could. Even if he had to take down Optimus Prime with her, he knew as long as she stayed where she was he could get a solid hit on her.

"Anyone who _hasn't_ hit her yet, hold fire!" Jazz suddenly ordered.

"Are you out of your mind?" Bluestreak demanded of Jazz.

"Hurry ... up," Optimus Prime said, struggling to shake the six-limbed wolverine-like monster from where she'd lodged between his cab and trailer and was making serious inroads into turning him into a scrap heap. She was latched on in a way that prevented him from transforming, which left him largely helpless to defend himself.

"She's only damaged those who hit her first," Jazz countered. "Windcharger and Sunstreaker were only stunned, not damaged."

"Then I'm about to _really_ tick her off," Wheeljack pointed out, charging the disruptor and firing it.

He hit perfectly and the beam engulfed her feral form, forcing her into her base before locking her mind away from her body to shut her down.

"Good work, Wheeljack," Optimus Prime groaned as she was pulled off him and he struggled to transform, eventually making it. "Huffer, take my trailer with her and Jazz in it. Get back to the Ark. Hit her with that again if you need to," he added to Jazz as Wheeljack handed the disruptor over. "Keep her under until we're back and ready to explain things."

"Will do, Prime," Jazz agreed as Huffer moved into place and took the trailer, loading Ezara into it.

"Windcharger and Sunstreaker should be up in a couple minutes - let's finish the Decepticons," Prowl said, turning to head into the building on full alert with Wheeljack while the others spread out to hunt down Decepticons.

Wheeljack and Prowl only had a moment's warning after they'd entered, before Soundwave launched a barrage of mini-missiles, Rumble and Frenzy opened fire with their blasters.

"We found them," Wheeljack called out over the radio while they returned fire and tried to find cover.

They moved behind some of the consoles, as the others approached the door. Frenzy turned towards the ones outside, forcing them back with his sonic scream.

"We've got Reflector trying to break into the other tower through the top," Windcharger warned them. "The three of them just moved behind the dome."

"Wheeljack, Blue Streak, Windcharger, Sunstreaker, go after him," Optimus Prime ordered as he caught Frenzy square in the chest with a stunning blast.

"On our way, Prime," Wheeljack confirmed, transforming and speeding towards the tower, aiming for an angle that would take him up the side.

"Good," Optimus Prime turned his focus on the entrance of the first tower and focused fire on Soundwave to clear the way in.

Soundwave fell back, finding cover and keeping up his fire on Prowl until Mirage uncloaked behind him, opening fire and knocking him through an interior wall, exposing Megatron.

"Surrender, Autobots!" He commanded them, aiming his cannon at the wall of energon cubes that had already been prepared.

"If you blow that, you'll be destroyed as well," Optimus warned him, even as he signaled his forces to stay back.

"If it means you go with me? It would be a pleasure," Megatron told Prime with a vicious promise in his voice as Soundwave got to his feet.

"You wouldn't dare," Cliffjumper said in disbelief. "He's bluffing, he has to be."

"We can't risk it," Optimus Prime said. "You win Megatron."

"Of course I do," Megatron said with a low chuckle. "Decepticons! Grab everything you can, and get out of here!"

"Let them go," Optimus Prime ordered. "As long as he's sighted on the energon cubes, we can't risk it."

Rumble and Frenzy each grabbed as many cubes as they could carry, taking off and relaying the orders. The rest of the Cassettes joined in, along with Soundwave and the three Reflectors. Finally, Megatron grabbed pile of his own, leaving about half the amount they'd initially stacked as he took off.

"Farewell, Prime!" He called down, firing his cannon into the depleted wall of energon cubes.

"Down!" Optimus Prime ordered as he dove for cover behind the remainder of the wall, the explosion cracking the reactor shielding and obliterating their cover. "Wheeljack, how do we stop a chain reaction?"

"We've got to get something in there to stop the neutron exchange," he explained quickly as he dug out from under the rubble. "Water, lead, some sort of force field if we had a generator! It needs to last until we can make repairs."

"The water towers," Optimus Prime said. "Wheeljack, start putting it together. Prowl, Mirage, with me," he transformed for the pair to grab hold for a fast drive to the water storage towers nearby.

* * *

Jazz set Wheelie up with the disruptor. "If I make any sudden moves, blast me," he instructed clearly. "I'm probably not in charge of my own body."

He settled down next to their prisoner, and touched her forehead. As cautiously as he'd approach Megatron's mind, he entered hers.

"The name's Jazz," he called out to the nebulous expanse of her disrupted processors. "Who are you?"

"Wanderer ... Ezara," a dazed female voice responded. "Autobot," she said, as much a statement as question.

"Yeah, I'm an Autobot," he told her, his voice calm as he came closer. "I'm not your enemy."

"No, not really," she consented, trying to organize herself enough to at least meet this intruder face to face. "You're their enemy, so I fight you."

"You don't have to," he offered. "We can protect you, see to your needs."

"Why?" Ezara asked, her consciousness struggling against the disruptor and the stasis-cuffs to form even a shadow of herself for him to interact with.

"It's what Autobots do," he explained. "We protect those who need to be."

"The Decepticons do..." she said before briefly fading out.

"Who are you?" she asked when she struggled back. "Why so hard to think?"

"The disruptor," Jazz explained. "So you don't kill me while we talk. I'm Jazz."

"Okay ... Jazz. Promise I will not attack. Turn it off?" she looked at him hopefully.

"I can't, but it won't last much longer," he promised. "Do you like what the Decepticons have you do?" he moved a little closer, hoping to catch stray memories and felt his insides roil when he did. Soundwave torturing her and her enjoying it. A brutal battle with Starscream that she won. Rough, desperate passion with Skywarp. Nearly draining Thundercracker dry. A fantasy involving Megatron that he really wished he could delete from his memory banks, and hers, for everyone's sanity.

She didn't have the evil feel of a true Decepticon, but she fit in with them too well for it to just be Soundwave's work in a single Earth week.

"I'm good at it, that disruptor thing aside," she kind of shrugged. "I understand them, mostly. Strong rule weak. I'm strong enough to keep a place in them."

"Doesn't hav'ta be that brutal," Jazz told her, taking a good look at her mental form as it solidified more. The disruptor was wearing off faster than anticipated, but that's why'd he'd used the stasis-cuffs. Her mind might be more organized now, but she wasn't going to be _moving_.

"Then offer me something better," she looked at him as their surroundings swirled into a room with walls of opaque crystal with bright light streaming through them. "They've repaired me, given me enough energy to really start to rebuild myself, helped recover some memories, indulged me," she said, her own form solidifying on a purple bed of velvet and satin as a humanoid female with short dark blue fur and somewhat feline features. "They're willing to kill my enemies."

"I know one thing they can't offer," Jazz said as he knelt on the bed, his form shifting to that of a human male in response to such clear desire. "Tenderness," he murmured, adding a soft, romantic music to the background as he leaned over her and slid a hand along her lean, muscular body.

"Tender isn't my usual," she chuckled and let her claws play out lightly against his bare skin before pulling him down for a hard hiss. "I like to play as hard as I fight."

"You might enjoy it," he suggested, trailing a line of kisses along her jaw, then her neck, as his fingers slid between her legs to find a body reasonably compatible with his human one. "If you enjoy long and intense."

"That I enjoy," she rumbled and spread her legs a bit, lifting on knee in response to his fingers. "There's something I'd rather have there, you know."

"I can't show you what's on offer if you won't let me," Jazz pointed out with a nuzzle. He kept his thoughts that this might not be the right way to reach her in check with the fact that it was what she wanted most. She wouldn't be a fast convert, but playing off her natural desires was typically a good starting point.

"Since I'm not going anywhere," Ezara murmured, then moaned deeply as fingers slick with her own fluids began to slide rhythmically up and down the folds of her sex.

"Mmm, can you offer me the head of the one hunting me? Ezara gasped in pleasure and slid her arms over her head, stretching her body out. "Cool my fire better than Skywarp?"

"I can't promise you his head, but I can promise that we'll stop him from hunting you," he said. "I can promise you pleasure beyond anything those Deceptigoons can give you," he said a little more firmly as he felt her body on the edge of bliss and pushed her over it.

More than a little to his surprise, she was free with her energy for it.

"You're better than that," he murmured in her ear as he shifted on top of her and entwined their fingers, bringing her hands down to her side as he pressed into her welcoming body. "You deserve better than them, better than _him_."

"You?" she moaned with their mating, her body tight and slick around him as they rocked and thrust, one seeking mutual release, the other trying to hold back.

"You have the strength of a Prime in your Spark," Jazz moaned, his teeth clenched as he tried to show her that he was a better lover than the black Seeker she was openly fond of. "You could lead."

A thought tried to form, but was torn away by pleasure as she came again and surrendered to his attentions completely.

* * *

"Jazz, we have incoming!" Huffer warned those in the trailer. "It's the other alien," he added a moment later, unaware that Jazz wasn't in a position to hear him.

"Jazz?" Huffer tried to raise him again. "Wheelie, what's going on in there?"

He groaned when the answer came back that Jazz had entered the prisoner's mind. "I hope you're in a place to break, cause you're about to get thrown," he muttered to himself as he tried to contact the airborne alien approaching them while he rocked the trailer to separate Jazz and the prisoner. Even though he doubted anyone could respond in time, he sent a message to Optimus Prime and Teletraan-1 for backup.

"I am Retrieval Specialist Caurun of Lydrom," the male alien responded in an even, professional tone on the same frequency as he'd been hailed. "If you surrender First Commandant Ezara Starshine, there will be no violence. I have no quarrel with the Autobots or Earth."

"Maybe not, but we're not handing anybody over without an explanation," Huffer responded. "Why do you want her?" He asked as Jazz disconnected and got ready for the potential fight.

"She is a war criminal," Caurun explained calmly as he came in for a landing near Huffer, his large rail gun slung across his back. "She must stand trial for what she did. I am only here to return her to Lydrom."

"And what is it she did?" Huffer asked, not changing his form, but stopping, recording the conversation for later.

"She is the leader of the Vistra forces. As such she ordered the execution of cities, the torture of civilians and implemented plans that included crimes against life," he explained. "I can bring you a data crystal that details the facts in full."

"Do that. I won't turn her over without orders to do so," Huffer said.

"Who must be present to give the order?" he asked evenly.

"For somebody facing disassembly?" Jazz asked as he exited the top of the trailer. "That'd be Optimus Prime. And it's not gonna happen fast. Now, if y'd like to leave that data crystal and yer contact info, we don't have a problem."

"You will be able to get ahold of me by looking to wherever you keep her," Caurun said firmly. "I've chased her across three galaxies and fourteen of your vorn and this is as close as I've gotten to her. I am not letting her out of my sight until she is in stasis in my ship."

"You're free to follow us back to the Ark, but you're not getting close enough to harm her," Huffer responded, knowing that Jazz was thinking the same thing.

"I'm already close enough to send a shot through you, that trailer _and_ her," Caurun said evenly. "But I accept flying overhead while you transport her," he agreed.

"Try it, an' you'll won't make it off this planet alive," Jazz promised. "Following' us is fine."

"Is it true she has allied with the Decepticons?" Caurun suddenly asked as he brought his weapon up to fire.

"Doesn't matter," Jazz said firmly, pulling his own blaster around as he moved to the side when Caurun's railgun lined up with him.

"It does when one just snuck in," Caurun countered and opened fire into the trailer as he ran forward, no longer concerned about the Autobots. "That damn cat is _not_ getting my prisoner."

"Blast it!" Jazz muttered, dropping inside, firing at Ravage as the cat ripped the stasis cuffs off of Ezara, a new hole in her side leaking a mix of energon and lubricant.

Ravage growled at him and attacked, giving Ezara the moment she needed to work out that she was free to move.

"Ravage!" she called to him even as she rolled out of the way of another blast from Caurun before Laserbeak had his attention. "Fall back!"

The panther did so, leaping away and turning in mid-jump to fire his cannons at Jazz, covering for Ezara's escape as Laserbeak made another strafing run on Caurun.

"Ta roen, Onyan'a!" Caurun yelled at her as she flew off, aiming at her and pulling off another shot that tore into her entire body as the range spread the rail gun's projectiles out to knock her out of the sky. "This has to end now," he muttered to himself in his native language and took off, flying for the location where she fell, only to have Laserbeak slam into him and knock him to the ground and into Jazz and Huffer.

The Decepticon swooped off while they tried to sort each other out, following the others away.

"She won't get off-world, not far at least," Jazz warned Caurun before he could take off to follow them.

"Her ship hasn't refueled yet," he flicked his chin up. "Not for another five and a half local lunar cycles. Are you badly damaged?" he looked between Jazz and Huffer.

"And there's no way she'd leave the Decepticons right now, while she thinks she got a chance of beatin' you with their help. No, we're not damaged that much ... but I don't think we're gettin' the deposit back on the trailer...."

Caurun nodded and slung his main weapon across his back. "Thank you. We can talk on the ride, and I can help repair that hole I punched in it. I'll have my ship meet us at your base. The data your leader will want is on board."

"Sounds like a plan to this man," Jazz agreed and transformed, his sensors on Caurun as the male alien transformed, the same kind of incredibly intricate process that the Ezara used, except that Caurun changed into a light hovertank of sorts.


	5. Punishment

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Starscream/Ezara  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/F rape  
_Codes_: Het, Rape, Violence, Sexual Violence, Sadism  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: When Ezara does make it to the Nemesis, it is not to a warm welcome.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 05: Punishment**

* * *

"Where have you been? We all got back joors ago," Starscream taunted when the lift into Decepticon headquarters opened to reveal Ezara's scorched and more than slightly shot up frame along with the uninjured Ravage and Laserbeak. She wasn't leaking energon anymore, but it was obvious enough she had been from the stains on her chrome finish.

It was also clear to most in the control room that she was spoiling for a fight despite her condition, or quite possibly because of it.

"Ezara: Follow," Soundwave ordered before she could take Starscream up on his offer of one.

She hesitated one step, the desire to smash Starscream in the face right at the top of her mind, but she complied before Soundwave could repeat the order. She spared a glance around to check on Skywarp's condition before the door to the control room shut behind her.

They walked in silence except for the clicking of Laserbeak and Ravage transforming into cassette form and dropping into Soundwave's open chest.

It didn't take her long to work out that they were headed to his lab and not the repair bay, but she kept the irritated sigh to herself. This was hardly the worst damage she'd suffered without being repaired quickly.

"Ezara: sit," Soundwave ordered when they entered his lab. He didn't check to see if she obeyed until he'd locked access, and was privately pleased that her previous disobedience had not become a string of them, even when he could easily register her desire to. He didn't even have to order her to open her chest for him to plug in. She was ready, and whether she understood what was coming or not, she was not afraid.

Soundwave had to take a moment to adjust to the mindscape that greeted him. In the two days since he had last plugged into her, she seemed to have completely redesigned it, or at least significantly expanded and decorated the portion she'd claimed control over.

It was an actual cityscape now, something heavily reminiscent of Cybertron in its golden age, but distinctly not Cybertron, as much of the structure was woven of crystal in varying levels of opacity and color as well as metal. It only went on for a few kliks, and down perhaps a third of that before fading into gray, then black, as it reached the chaotic parts of her mind. Of it all, three structures caught Soundwave's attention immediately.

In the northeast was an arena that matched anything an architect on Cybertron had dared dream of, one designed to hold hundreds of thousands at a time and to dominate the district it was in.

To the south was a less than distinct crystal and gold spire. Though it meant nothing and looked less than imposing to him, in here he could feel that it was the center of power, somewhere she _wanted_ to attain, but wasn't close to yet.

To the west was a sight that fixated him. "What is that?" He pointed to the wide beam of energy going from the plant's surface into space.

"The district power supply," she answered easily. "Solar collectors in orbit collect energy, direct it to the one above the planet, and it sends it down."

"How do you know this?" he turned to her, abruptly having something far more valuable than punishing her to deal with. If this was real, if she knew how to build it....

"Umm, I just do," she shrugged, causing Soundwave to tear his attention away from the intense flow of energy, enough coming down in an joor to power Cybertron at it's height for a orn, and focus on the mind that created it.

She'd changed as much as her mindscape.

Ezara wore her robot body, and while it had differences from the current look, they were similar enough he extrapolated that it was her likely appearance before she had fled her homeworld. It was completely solid as well, and the same proud bearing that she'd worn before the battle at Three Mile Island was evident in every line of the strong frame that echoed the power she still retained, and her full potential for it.

It was no longer simple undecorated chrome either. A stripe of primary blue ran down the outside of each arm and formed a spiral around each leg. A wide slash of primary red ran from her right shoulder to her left hip, and he could see just enough to know there was a matching stripe in gold on her back. Down the center of her chest were four insignia, none of which looked like anything from Cybertron. Three were not even faces, and the one that was he had no doubt represented her feral form.

"This location: name?" Soundwave asked.

"Ekinoda, Lydrom, Vistra and Tezita are all attached to it," she said. "I'm not sure which relates to what."

"This happened: when?" he asked, cataloging everything around him for later processing.

"Mostly after I pounded Thundercracker into submission," she said with an indulgent smile for her success. "A lot of it is just filler. Maybe I know what was there, but it's not accessible in yet. Mostly what I do have are centered on my quarters, a club, a bar, a race track around the area, and the arena," she twitched her chin in the direction of the huge building.

"Are you aware of how to construct any of these things?" He asked her, his mental focus on the power system obvious.

"Building that," she motioned to the huge display of flowing power. "Is a beyond me, but I think I have enough data floating around to work with an engineer to build something that would work. The theory seems simple enough."

"Maintain that idea for later," he instructed her. "Are you aware of why you are here, now?"

"No. I didn't think about it," she admitted.

"When you were called earlier, you disobeyed an order so you could continue to feed on Thundercracker," Soundwave informed her. "You will be punished for your disobedience."

"Ah," she nodded, completely accepting of the logic of it, and her fate.

"You will also have to learn your place in the Decepticons," he told her, making a few mental adjustments to what she was capable of in here. "The Decepticons rule by strength, but there are many kinds of strength to win your place with."

Ezara nodded, accepting both statement and concept without difficulty.

Soundwave caught a flicker, a thought that wasn't even fully materialized, that pulsed with emotion. He took the time to examine it, and was flooded by relief at the concept he'd just presented.

"That's what you've been trying to figure out all along, isn't it?" He asked her, confirming his interpretation. "Well, you may not enjoy the answer."

"Isn't that, one's place, what everyone wants to know?" she asked him with a curious look, completely unfazed by the promise of an unpleasant time.

"Some don't care what their place is - they only care about raising their position as much as possible." Soundwave informed her. "Why have you not challenged Megatron yet?"

"I serve Megatron because he is strong enough I can see it. I serve you because you proved you are worthy of it. Skywarp and Thundercracker serve me because I proved I am stronger than they are. Starscream ... we'll sort it out. It's a fight we both want, and need."

"What results do you expect?" he regarded this transformed core mind with a mixture of fascination, frustration and respect. She had taken the beating he'd given her and no doubt promptly picked a fight with Thundercracker. Then not only beaten the Seeker to submission in his own mind, but came out of that fight with a major breakthrough in accessing her memories. She would not be as simple to work with as he had first expected.

"I will take him to his knees," she said simply, with no hint that there was another possible answer. "He's strong, but he's not _that_ strong. It may not prove anything to him, if he's fool enough to still challenge Megatron, but it will be enough for me to know my place."

"If he defeats you?" Soundwave regarded her, pleased that she seemed to have an inherent respect for power and authority, once it was settled in her mind. She had ambition with practical limits. He sent a message to Starscream, along with what he had in mind, and released Rumble to open the door when he arrived. It may not end their squabble, or her desire to dominate the power-hungry Seeker, but it would be a useful start to settling her down. He had few doubts now that once she understood her position relative to the others, she would not only be extremely loyal, but she wouldn't fight with them nearly as much.

"If he does, when I'm ready for the fight? Then he's my superior as well," she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe and was nothing she objected to.

As if on cue, in the real world, Starscream entered. Soundwave patched him into their link, and his energy form quickly entered.

"Let me guess - home sweet home," he said, looking around contemptuously.

"Something like it," she regarded the Seeker warily, sure he'd be the one to pound on her today and not Soundwave. There was so much to hate about him she wasn't even sure where to start. Arrogant, blowhard and power-mad she'd known just from being in the same room.

In _here_, having his mind present was enough to make her sick. All she could think about was ejecting him, destroying him, beating him down so badly he'd never fly, much less fight, again.

"Be it ever so crumbled," he said dryly. "At least it fits its owner. I understand you've been a bad girl," he taunted her.

"Yes," she answered without issue.

"I'm going to enjoy teaching you a lesson," he grinned. "So, Soundwave's left you with enough power to put up _some_ sort of a fight, hasn't he? _I'll_ give you a chance to weasel your way out of this."

"Power, yes. The ability to, no," she told him what he already knew. "You aren't going to have a fight worth bothering with coming."

"We'll see if you still think it's not worth it when I'm done," he grinned, his energy form dispersing, arcing to her body and dancing along it in an electrical firestorm.

Ezara screamed, struggled to transform into a matching energy state and realized it was one of the things Soundwave had blocked from her. Instinct and drive as old as her existence kicked in, rerouting and blocking his energy nearly as fast as he could move. She protected what was important and surrendered the rest without question.

Starscream left her body, but not before racing through her pleasure receptors, stimulating them all unbearably before he materialized, this time in a physical form. He looked down at the limp body. "That was too easy," he muttered, dissatisfied by how submissive she was. It wasn't nearly as fun when she just lay there and took it.

He reached down and picked her up, giving her a shake to confirm she was awake.

"What's the matter? You enjoy being my bitch too much to resist me?" He challenged her.

It did earn a rise out of her, but not the kind of was expecting.

"I disobeyed an order. No good soldier fights punishment for that," she told him.

"Then I'll just have to enjoy myself." He dropped her to the street, then backhanded her, kicking her in the side for good measure.

Not even he could miss the storm brewing, the warning in thunder rumbling beyond the city boundary that she actively controlled.

"Oh, you'll take this any time I care to take you," Starscream answered it with a sneer.

"That we will see about," she looked up at him with the kind of raw hatred that usually took hundreds of vorn to build.

"You're right, we will," he sneered down at her. "Have you forgotten what I can do to you, any time I please?"

"Only if you can hit me first," she chuckled weakly. "Until Megatron has no more use for me, you won't do much more than piss me off."

"He wouldn't care, not for long. We'd mine the data out of what's left of your brain, and things would be back to normal," Starscream crooned as he picked her up. "You really aren't going to resist me at all, are you?"

"Not today," she told him evenly.

"Then why don't you show me that bio-form that Skywarp keeps thinking about," he told her, throwing her back against a wall.

Ezara bounced off and staggered to her feet and looked at Soundwave, who nodded after unlocking that form for her. Without any other hesitation, she shifted to it. She felt the pain a little more now, knew that deep red blood was oozing from her mouth and her ribs were bruised, if not cracked, on one side. She stood there, in the street, nude and waiting for whatever Starscream had in mind.

It wasn't lost on anyone that she was now half his size, instead of a head taller, or that her manner spoke of someone who knew what was coming and knew they could take it.

"The mighty warrior," he sneered. "Just like an Autobot - so fond of biological life. Maybe you'll appreciate this one?" He said, changing his own form, dropping down to all fours like a panther, tentacles sprouting from his shoulders, ending in roughly ridged pads. He was bigger than Ravage's body, but leaner, lankier - he almost looked like he was starving, but there was no sign of weakness.

Ezara took half a step back, tensing for a fight before she caught herself and submitted to her fate, standing still and watching every move the monster made. It wasn't as inherently frightening as some she'd encountered, but the mind and will behind it more than made up for that.

He was determined that she fear him before he let her go, and he would likely succeed.

He prowled toward her, stroking her body with those tentacles and quirked his mouth at the low sound of pleasure and desire that escaped her. He curled the ends of the pads to catch sensitive parts in the ridges, testing her responses as he raked at her skin just enough to draw blood with them here and there.

"You are an odd one," Starscream chuckled when she shuddered, her desire blanketing the environment with raw, unchecked lust.

He slide one of the tentacles down her body, rubbing her sex raw before he slid it into her sex, running his claws down her back.

"Do you like this on your real body too?" He challenged her.

"No," she answered, her body shivering at the attention, even though it was mostly pain.

"Punishment will remain in this realm," Soundwave warned Starscream.

"Of course," the Seeker accepted, twisting the tentacle around to rake her insides, opening dozens of tiny cuts inside of her as he bit down on her shoulder roughly.

The force of it, and the first strain of blood loss, dropped her roughly to her knees. Her teeth were clenched, tears flowing, but her mental self couldn't stop the headlong rush to an orgasm that would drain her and feed him.

He drank down her energy with vicious pleasure, enjoying the way her pain seemed to push her further into releasing power to him. It wasn't long before he'd pushed her far enough that she was afraid she might burn out her circuits with the power flowing through them, a vicious feedback loop going where she fed him, and he used the extra power to inflict more pain, making her feed him even more. He plunged his barbed shaft into her ass, his tentacles still torturing her sex and breasts as he raped her.

Just when she'd thought it was as bad as it would get, Starscream decided to take it the extra level. His body discorporated, and entered hers, his energy form completely infusing and subsuming her mind, entwining with her processors on a level that was more intimate than anything a bio-form was capable of.

In that fraction of a moment all her intentions of being a good soldier and taking her punishment evaporated. Reflex kicked in and locks of a caliber she had no capability of forming, much less so quickly, slammed down in strategic locations, protecting the bulk of her core psyche and active memories from Starscream's assault.

Just as quickly, a harmonic dissidence rumbled from the outer reaches of her mind, its volume growing rapidly as Starscream drove deeper into the parts of her psyche that remained unprotected.

"Fascinating," Soundwave analyzed the sonic response, and the new locks, all but identical to the ones she could not undo. She shouldn't have the strength to hold the Seeker off, but she was drawing it from somewhere.

The thundering beat intensified, now harmonizing with higher tones, shaking the structure of the city as its resonant frequency was matched and her mind began to shut down.

"Punishment: sufficient. Stop: now."

"I'm not done," Starscream objected.

"If you wish to live, you will stop now," Soundwave warned him.

The Seeker paused. "What are you babbling about?"

"She has locked us in," Soundwave informed him, causing Starscream to rematerialize in the crumbling city. "Damaging her further will damage us."

"Have you ever seen a response like this before?" Starscream asked, looking around, the gears in his head obviously turning.

"Rarely," Soundwave responded, not giving the detail that when he had, it had been a very high-value subject. "Her mind should open shortly," he added as he began to counter the destructive harmonics.

With Starscream leaving her alone, the music subdued, then silenced, but her mind did not unlock as repairs began to the city.

"Ezara: come here." Soundwave ordered.

She was a moment in responding, and showed every bit of abuse when she did. When she finally formed her body, her robotic form was on her knees, clutching her abdomen and struggling to remain coherent enough to respond to him.

"Why did you lock your mind?" Soundwave demanded coldly.

"I didn't," she managed to get out.

"If she didn't," Starscream began.

"Latent security programming," Soundwave warned him. "Do not challenge it."

"You're no fun," Starscream pouted.

"Survival: more important than fun," Soundwave said evenly as he stepped up to Ezara and began to repair her. He worked slowly, keeping a sharp optic on the locks that kept them in. The instant they opened, he stopped, leaving her in slightly worse shape than when she had arrived on Earth.

"Starscream: Disconnect. Ezara: You are not to recharge or repair for three orn after I turn you loose."

"Yes, Sir," she flicked her chin up, struggling to her feet after the Seeker had left.

"Return to your mental quarters," Soundwave instructed her. "We will explore," he indicated himself and his cassettes.

She flicked her chin up again and disappeared. He could sense her in the room that was at the center of her stable mind and turned to his minions. "Operation: Explore."


	6. Stories from Far Away

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Caurun/Perceptor  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/M  
_Codes_: Slash  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: When the male alien comes to Autobot headquarters on board the Ark, he briefs them on his side of what is going on and finds much more in return for his cooperation.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 06: Stories from Far Away**

* * *

"Thank you," Caurun said as he accepted a glass of liquid energon from Optimus Prime and sat down across from him in the large conference room where everyone had gathered. "I am Retrieval Specialist Agent Caurun of the Polidrin. My homeworld is Lydrom and my race is Tezita. The one I am hunting is First Commandant Ezara Starshine of the Vistra, also a Tezita of Lydrom.

"I want to clear one thing up before this goes further," Caurun glanced at Jazz, then focused on Optimus Prime. "She is unlikely to face disassembly, or deactivation. While there is a possibility of it, such drastic steps are not taken with anyone who is capable of being retrained or reprogrammed. It is reserved for those who are unredeemably evil, or ask for it."

"Evil she is not," Jazz said firmly. "The lady's skitzy and susceptible to Decepticon lies, but she ain't evil."

"While the judgment is not mine to make, I do agree with you," Caurun flicked his chin to the right as he looked at Jazz. "She has a great deal to offer; she is an extraordinary warrior and tactician. If she can wrap her processors around the idea of fighting for the new First Commandant, she'll continue to have a bright future ahead of her."

"You _are_ talking about the same person you claimed is facing charges of executing cities, torturing civilians and crimes against life?" Huffer glared at him.

"Yes," Caurun answered. "I am. We are not so arrogant that we do not understand that good bots do horrible things in war, and leaders often face times where there is not a good choice. Yes, she will face punishment for what she did and what she ordered done. There is no need for that punishment to end her life."

"Why does she believe you will kill her?" Optimus Prime asked, thinking back to his first encounter with her.

"I haven't been inside her head, but I expect it is because it's what she would do," Caurun said. "My orders do include a dead or alive clause," he acknowledged. "I will kill her if I absolutely have to, but I would have been home a long time ago if I was that willing to use deadly force. It just isn't right."

"All right," Optimus Prime nodded. "Tell us how she became a war criminal."

"First Commandant is the world military leader, second in status only to the king or queen," Caurun began. "As such, she commanded all the Vistran forces, set their tactics and the rules of war they would obey. It also means, like all ranking officers, when the Vistra lost the war for Lydrom they had to stand trial for what they ordered done. Most are already back in service in the Polidrin military, or civilian life. As of my last contact with Lydrom, there had been one execution, done on demand of the mech executed, and two were still in prison because they refuse to concede the war has been lost. I have requested an update, but it will be several orn before the reply will arrive."

"How do you reduce such vicious crimes to time served?" Prowl asked.

"Understand that I am not anyone who makes those choices," Caurun cautioned. "As I understand it, the point of the trial is to determine how much of those actions were truly her orders, what her options at the time were, and how much she regrets the choices she had to make. Crimes committed during war are held to a different standard than those committed by civilians. Every soldier is a murderer, when it comes right down to it. All have killed. It is understood that they are not criminals for that because of the circumstances of the killing. That logic is applied to officers and orders as well."

"And how much of this trial involves 'er ability to remember anythin' that happened?" Jazz asked him carefully.

"That depends a great deal on what defense she chooses to have and what evidence we have of what happened," Caurun said. "The more secret the plan was, the more her defense will have to rely on what she remembers. It does help with the regret and rehabilitation part of judgment to admit to what you did."

"There's where you've got a problem," Jazz explained. "Her memory's got more holes than a vorn-old bull's-eye."

"Could you tell if it was from physical damage, suppression or just not paying attention for a long time?" Caurun asked. "There's not much to be done about the first, but the second two can be fixed with time and energy."

"I didn't have that long to look around," Jazz pointed out. "There was a little interruption, and my main goal wasn't assessing the damage, it was seeing if she'd really bought into the Decepticon cause."

"Has she?" Optimus Prime looked at his chief of intelligence.

"At the moment, I'd say she has a violent streak and doesn't object to their methods and goals, but doesn't have any interest in them either. She's mostly hungry for a place she belongs and people who'll take care of her - she doesn't realize how quickly Megatron would abandon her if it suited his purpose, and he's doing a good job of hiding it, sending Ravage and Laserbeak out to rescue her."

"Megatron is nothing if he is not good at lying," Optimus Prime pointed out.

"I will send a message requesting the data on her crimes and what happens if her memory is not recoverable," Caurun said. "It was not something of concern to me. I do have a very complete history of her from her first appearance in the arena at Ekinoda to when the Vistra began to loose, and parts of it after that. It is not exactly what you are asking for, but it will give you a better understanding of who she was back home until the rest of the data arrives."

"Thank you," Optimus nodded. "I would also like transcripts of the other war trials, and a full review of the war."

"The trials are all public record," Caurun flicked his chin to the right. "If we weren't so far away, I'd ask for her law-bot to be sent, but it's not practical. I don't know how much they'll send on specific battles and events, but I will ask for it."

"Just how far from home are you?" Perceptor asked.

"My ship will take around nineteen metacycles to get back, hers probably fifty-seven. A new fast scout could probably make it here in less than one," Caurun explained. "We _are_ three galaxies away. Now, you said that Megatron will abandon her quickly if she is no longer of use to him," Caurun redirected the conversation. "What about his followers, the black jet ... Skywarp, I believe?"

"Yap, that's Skywarp," Jazz nodded, even as he decided not to bring up how fond the pair seemed to be of each other, at least in her mind. "I can't see them being any more loyal than Megatron, unless she has something they want."

Caurun sipped his drink. "Would her attentions fall under that heading?"

"Probably," Jazz acknowledged. "At least for some of them."

"Then watch out for him," Caurun advised. "She will use that to her advantage."

"Why did you single out Skywarp?" Optimus Prime asked. "He's pretty low on the Decepticon totem pole."

Caurun shifted his attention to the Autobot leader. "He is physically the type she is attracted to. Fast, black, airborne. From the brief scan I got of him, he's near the power level she would like too. Strong, but not nearly as strong as she is at full charge."

"How do ya know all this?" Jazz asked.

"When I was assigned to bring her back, I was given every byte of information available on her," Caurun explained. "Records from the war are spotty, but everything between when she entered the arena and when the war began are intact. From what you said, I know her better than she knows herself. I've also been studying and hunting her in person for fourteen vorn. May I ask why you are trying to capture her?"

"Because she's an innocent being used by Megatron," Optimus Prime said. "She has not had an opportunity to make an informed decision about which side to join, or even whether she joins our war at all."

"Perhaps while you read my records, I can read yours?" Caurun asked. "My understanding of your situation is only slightly more complete than yours is of mine."

"That is a reasonable idea," Optimus Prime agreed. "I'm entirely too familiar with civil war, which is what your war sounds like it was. To use an Earth phrase, there are no saints on the battlements. Were there any neutral parties involved, on neighboring worlds?"

"It was a civil war," Caurun acknowledged. "The twenty-third in our history, and eighteenth to succeed. We colonized the few worlds in our system, so they were far from neutral. I expect someone was watching that didn't care who won, but I don't know who they might be."

"Understood. However, you can understand that I'll want to try verifying the information you've given us, before making my decision," Optimus Prime said.

"I understand," Caurun frowned with a touch of uncertainty. "The only thing I can offer is use of the communications equipment in my ship. You will be able to talk to my superiors. They are not neutral in the matter, as I'm sure you can understand, but you will be able to talk with your equivalent on Lydrom, First Commandant Ryzia Koisi."

"That is acceptable," Optimus Prime said. "I will not turn her over until I am convinced it is the right choice. I have seen too many mockeries of justice in the guise of war trials to trust she is any more guilty than Ryzia Koisi."

Caurun flicked his chin up and regarded Optimus Prime evenly. "What will you do with her if you do decide to keep her?"

"That will depend on her wishes," Optimus Prime told him.

"First we've gatta catch her and convince her than we ain't the bad guys," Jazz spoke up.

"We have something in common then," Caurun chuckled lightly. "Since that is what I need to convince you of."

"For now, you're welcome to stay here and help us," Prime offered. "I'm willing to accept that you're not the 'bad guy,' just as I'm willing to accept that Ezara may not be. Do you have any non-lethal means of attacking her?"

"Nothing that _works_," Caurun muttered in real annoyance. "Every trick and trap I started with she's either resistant to or gets out of. Even broken, animistic and critically low on energy that's still First Commandant Starshine," he said with the kind of grudging respect that was hard-won. "I had to resort to doing enough damage to knock her off line a long time ago," he sighed, twirling the liquid energy in his glass before drinking it. "You may not have had much luck keeping her, but you've got something that'll knock her out. It's better than anything I know of."

"Optimus," Perceptor offered. "I could show him around the Ark, perhaps go over some technical information. There is a high probability that we will be able to devise a better system with his assistance."

"I'll do my best," Caurun promised as he stood. "With your permission, Optimus Prime," he looked at the Autobot leader with a tact acknowledgment of his rank here.

"Granted," he nodded.

They waited for the doors to close behind Perceptor and Caurun before the others began to disperse. Most drifted towards the entertainment center, while Prowl, Jazz and Wheeljack gathered around Optimus Prime.

"D'ya think we c'n trust him?" Jazz asked.

"To the extent we can trust anyone with no interest in who's side of the war they end up helping," Optimus Prime said evenly. "He has made his interests clear. As long as we keep his goals in mind while dealing with him, he is unlikely to be a threat."

"I agree," Prowl nodded. "I also doubt he would've come to us if he had been able to deal with the Decepticons for her. It'd be far more expedient to go to who already has her, than to come to their enemies to help us capture her and hope we'll let him take her later."

"This'll be an interesting jamboree," Jazz quipped. "Permission to use some of Ironhide's special formula to loosen his vocal processors?"

"Granted, just be careful," Optimus Prime warned. "The last thing we need is to find out he's a mean drunk."

"I'll mind my motors," Jazz grinned and headed off.

"That's gonna to be one strange conversation," Wheeljack shook his head.

"You said it," Prowl agreed.

* * *

"I hope that Optimus did not offend," Perceptor said as they left the main room. "It was not his intention."

"No," Caurun flicked his chin to the left quickly. "I understand exactly where he's coming from. I hoped for a less involved process, but I rather expected what he said. Wars are messy under the best of conditions, and war criminals aren't always criminals. I may not have his experience in politics or war, but I've seen enough."

"Cybertron's war has lasted for over nine million metacycles and Optimus has led us for most of that," Perceptor chuckled lowly. "Frankly, there are few sentient beings alive who have his experience in war, besides the Thirteen."

"The Thirteen?" Caurun cocked his head to look at the Autobot. "The first of your kind?"

"Yes," Perceptor nodded. "They actually pre-date even the Golden Age, though much of that time they were lost in another dimension. They appeared for a period during the civil war, but that was during the Dark Ages. Nobody's entirely sure how old they are, or what they've done during their long lives."

"Still..." Caurun murmured. "How old are you?"

"You must remember, all of us on Earth have spent the last four million metacycles inactive," Perceptor pointed out. "However, counting that time, I am approximately twelve million metacycles, forty eight vorn old. I was a scientist during the waning metacycles of the Golden Age, and didn't join the Autobots until some time into the war," he explained. "I remained with the research enclave in Altihex until the war became impossible to ignore," he admitted.

"I'm not one to judge," Caurun gave him a small smile. "I've managed to stay out of the fighting in all four wars I've been around for. I didn't get involved until this one was over with and the Polidrin called for hunters. They made a rather pointed order for me to bring Starshine back."

"The Polidrin?" Perceptor asked him curiously. "How old are you, if I may ask? You seem rather shocked at the age of most Cybertronians."

"The current rulers of my world," Caurun said. "The former rulers are the Vistra, Starshine's faction. I'm considered ancient for a bot who knows how to fight, and I'm a bit shy of thirty-seven vorn. Not many warriors see their second leader out of power. Black Suns, not many see their second leader _into_ power."

"Civil wars are common, on Lydrom?" Perceptor asked.

"Every million metacycle or so," Caurun flicked his chin to the right. "I began my life in the last days of the Karpai, saw the revolution that put the Epora in power, one that failed for the Keshar, a successful one for the Vistra, and now the Polidrin. Assuming I can bring her back, I have good odds of seeing the Polidrin out of power too. If you aren't military or high in the government, they're almost non-events. You keep your head down and vocal modulators quiet for a few vorn, do as you're told by whoever has a weapon on you that orn, and then it settles back to normal life for a million metacycles or so."

"How old is Ezara?" Perceptor asked as he processed what he'd been told. It was a very different story than Cybertron, or Earth for that matter. Violent, but it almost sounded like it had a planned order to it.

Caurun sighed. "She's barely more than a youngling, really. Brilliant, gifted, ambitious and as fierce as anyone I tracked, but she's not yet three hundred and two vorn; the first fourteen in the slums, the last fourteen on the run. If she'd held back just a little, paid more attention to politics and history, she'd have been the First Commandant of the Polidrin and had one incredible career. Instead she made the rank right at the end of an era and she'll never know her full potential. If she survives this, she'll make Commandant again, most likely, but never the top rank."

"She's never seen the 'changing of the guard' then," Perceptor nodded. "She was built as a warrior?"

"Assuming she was built with anything in mind, other than an extra pair of hands to help out," Caurun said. "It's pretty common in poor areas like she came from. It takes either resources or serious talent to build a bot that's meant for something as complicated as combat, and both are rare in the slums. It's much more likely that she was built just to work, and found the talent in her Spark for combat.

"I know that she began her arena career at nine vorn in the 'street' class. It's for those with no combat mods or formal training. She didn't do that well for the first few vorn. It wasn't the kind of showing that you'd expect for one who'd rise through the ranks so quickly, but on her hundred and thirtieth bout apparently something had clicked for her, because she was nearly unstoppable after that. Within three vorn she'd won her way into the major arenas. A thousand metacycles after that she was a main draw anywhere she fought. When it was announced that the Vistra would be taking applications for their next First Commandant, she was in it despite her age.

"She defeated warriors as old as I am, _and_ First Commandant Rawlind, to become his successor. That's when she started to get major upgrades and a rebuild. I doubt there was much left of her original design by the time she took Rawlind's place."

"So the Vistra decided their leaders based on arena combat performance? An odd decision," Perceptor mused. "Though it explains some of her decision, perhaps. It sounds like she's not used to losing, at least not recently."

"All of them have been chosen for combat ability," Caurun flick his chip up. "It's been that way since before we ruled Lydrom. Military are odd bots, to anyone on the outside. The king or queen is won by political skill and the ability to keep the military and civilian bots from fracturing into separate governments. It just usually requires overthrowing the currently First Commandant's military to become the new ruler. It's a level of politics I've tried to avoid. They don't have great life expectancies, and she's definitely not used to defeat," he agreed. "Since she started to win in the arena, she's only had one major defeat. Even while I've hunted her, she's always gotten away."

"And that's been her primary goal, and thus a victory with each encounter," Perceptor agreed. "It may help to explain why she refused to surrender; a matter of psychological interest, but little more. Are you looking forward to returning to Lydrom? It may bear little resemblance to what you are used to, by the time you return."

"It's home," Caurun said. "Fourteen vorn isn't very long in the parts I usually work. It should only take a nineteen metacycles or so if I head directly from here."

"That does actually raise another question - what is the basis of your ships?" Perceptor asked him, looking over as they approached his lab. "Are they a Lydrom design?"

"Yes," he flicked his chin to the right. "Both are considered fast scout class ships, though there have been tremendous improvements in engine design from what they tell me. My nineteen metacycle trip would only take a single metacycles with the newest clipper. I'm not sure it's a trip I'd want to make though. Those clippers aren't designed to recharge themselves like mine. I'll take slower and harder to break any day, but the military types are keen on speed, since their lives are so much shorter."

"They sound more like the Ark than your ships do," Perceptor nodded. "Though both sound much faster, covering that much distance so quickly. Are you familiar with the basic concepts of how the ship's drives work? The Ark is basically capable of _slightly_ better than light speeds, but not much more."

"Familiar enough to make field repairs. Not much more," Caurun said. "I'm not an engineer or mechanic, but when you're in my line of work, you pick up a lot of skills to survive."

"It would be of interest to see if we could adapt the technology," Perceptor explained. "Currently, Cybertron is nearly twenty metacycles away at full speed, but with that technology the time could be shortened to a few orn, potentially."

"Quite possibly," Caurun agreed, thinking about it. "If you can match my ship, just over two joor. If you manage what the new ones supposedly can, a matter of a few klik, maybe a breem; a joor once you work in the launch, acceleration, deceleration and docking. I'm not at all sure how compatible our technologies are, though."

"I'm sure the size of ship would be a factor as well - of course, all of this is academic," Perceptor admitted. "Simply the charging technology would be of interest, but it's not something to worry about right now. Are you going to wish to stay in your ship?"

"I'd prefer to let it go back to recharging as much as possible. Once her ship comes back up, I have to be ready to go. I don't need to stay here, but it would be nice to have an actual room and berth for a change."

"I'm sure there would be no objections. Quarters are sparse here, but they have all the amenities that are required," Perceptor explained as he turned for the crew quarters.

"I've spent most of the last fourteen vorn in a thirty by sixty ship's cabin," he chuckled lowly. "Having enough room to _walk around_ with a roof overhead is a luxury."

"We can do better than that," Perceptor chuckled back, walking between doors for their quarters, pausing by one door and opening it. "This should do?" He asked, stepping out of the way.

"Nicely," Caurun said as he took in the room that was easily sixty by eighty and with more than enough headroom for him, even though he was a head and some taller than their leader. Sure it had little beyond a build-in bed platform, desk, and computer terminal, but it was large. "I think my entire ship could fit in here."

"In sheer volume, it likely could, from what I saw," Perceptor agreed. "Though I doubt the room itself is actually tall enough," he mused, looking around and considering it. "Is there anything you would like? A drink to recharge, possibly?" he offered.

"I'd like that," Caurun smiled warmly at him and turned to leave after make note of the location of his bed. "I'd like to hear more about your friends, Cybertron, the Decepticons and the war I've walked into the middle of."

"Certainly," Perceptor said easily. "If you'd like to wait, I could come back in a few moments," he offered.

"Works for me," he agreed. "Where should I grab another chair?"

"My quarters are across the hall," Perceptor told him, opening the door with a thought before he went to fetch some of the suggested beverage from Ironhide's quarters.

Caurun nodded and watched him walk off before entering Perceptor's quarters. Even though he was mostly there to grab a chair and move it, he didn't miss the opportunity to take a good look at the scientist-warrior's personal space.

It was a simple room, not particularly surprising, and a bit smaller than his. There was assorted scientific equipment for smaller experiments and analysis, though no microscope. Several plaques were on one wall, most of them engraved with characters Caurun couldn't read well yet, but the gist of it all seemed to be scientific awards, not war medals. Given what the Autobot had said before, it wasn't that surprising. He was a warrior out of necessity, not nature or desire, and no doubt wished to go back to his scientific life as soon as possible.

It gave them something in common, and made Caurun smile sadly before he turned to take the much more plush chair to his own quarters. It was just in time to see Perceptor was return with a glowing bottle of neon pink liquid and a pair of small glasses.

"The same formula I had before, or something more potent?" Caurun gave him a wink and grin and easily dropped into the simple chair that had come with his quarters. "Just how decorated a scientist were you, before all this went down?"

"Something more potent," Perceptor chuckled. "Ironhide's special blend. And quite a bit, actually. Wheeljack and Ratchet are both experts in their own fields, but they're much more war-scientists than I am. I was actually making a great deal of progress in subatomic physics and energon conversion before having to leave Altihex. It's come in useful in some fields, but not as much as the medical and mechanical research that the others specialize in."

"Understandable," he accepted the small glass of glowing liquid and sipped it. "Ironhide has a talent for brewing," he said appreciatively. "Beyond control of Cybertron, is the war about anything in particular?"

"As far as we can gather, it's mostly control, and to some extent ideology," Perceptor explained. "The Autobot way of life, prior to the war, was mostly focused on peace and exploration of the cosmos. Unity through diplomacy and negotiation. The Decepticon way is all about the domination of the 'weak' by the 'strong,' with Megatron as the strongest."

"Civilian vs. military," Caurun sighed. "I'm surprised you've done so well. They'd be much better suited for war."

"Less civilian versus military than a form of monarchy versus insane, dictatorial fascism," Perceptor explained. "We've always had some level of military, simply not one that was obsessive to the level that the Decepticons are. Their infighting is a problem as well, of course."

"Ah, that would explain a great deal," Caurun flicked his chin up and sipped his drink. "A cohesive team and good leadership is the best way to survive, and win, any conflict. Still ... how has it lasted so long? Your Optimus Prime is very strong, and I'd hazard that he's a fine warrior too. How has Megatron survived so long?"

"Unfortunately, he and Prime are very evenly matched," Perceptor explained. "His strength is formidable, and his warriors equally so. Add the fact that Megatron would cheerfully ruin planets for his victory, and you have a foe who will accept no defeat except a final one. He has forged the Decepticons into a fanatical army, and when you factor in his willingness to work with outside forces when necessary, it becomes even more complicated."

Caurun flicked his chin up and swirled his drink thoughtfully. "Does he have a successor that is equally adept at leading?"

"Megatron? That depends upon your definition of being equally adept at leading. Shockwave has ruled Cybertron in Megatron's place since we left, so they have little apparent difficulty at maintaining control. Earth is a different issue; Soundwave and Starscream are the most likely successors, but neither one of them is particularly popular.

"Soundwave, like most professional torturers and blackmailers, is tolerated out of fear, rather than fondness, but the same could be said of Megatron.

"Starscream is more popular with his Seekers, but his tactical vision is at once more limited, and more pragmatic, than Megatron's. He's an odd combination of less dangerous and more all at the same time. His ego has gotten in his way several times."

"Ego, ay," Caurun agreed. "It's the crazy ones that are scary to hunt. You never know _what_ they're going to do next. Just how close are the Decepticons from true victory, from the point where you don't stand a chance against them, and which ones are the Seekers?"

"The Seekers are the jets... as for how close they are, that's a matter of who you're talking to," Perceptor admitted, checking that the door was closed before he took a drink. "The old soldiers like Ironhide, and Kup and Ultra Magnus on Cybertron ... from their perspective, it's not possible for the Decepticons to win utterly. They might die, _we_ might die, but the Matrix won't allow the Decepticons to rule its world. I have a more difficult time accepting such things on faith alone."

"The Matrix?" Caurun asked as he refilled his glass and offered to refill Perceptor's. "What is that, what does it do?"

"Unfortunately, I've a great deal of difficulty answering either question," Perceptor chuckled, accepting the second drink, working through it slowly. "It seems to be linked to the computer core of Cybertron itself, though exactly how is hard to tell. We call it the Matrix of Leadership, because its bearers are transformed into the Primes. I said that Optimus was born during the early days of the war; by that, I mean that whoever he was before received the Matrix then, and became Optimus. His memories from before then have largely been locked away, and his personality undoubtedly changed drastically. The Matrix is very particular about who it chooses, and they're not always obvious leaders, though often they are. All that we know is that the Matrix has never chosen a dictator for Cybertron ... but, then, the Decepticons have never had the opportunity to attempt to advance one of their own to becoming a Prime."

Caurun scowled, deep in thought for almost long enough for Perceptor to become concerned.

"I think our worlds may have more in common than I thought," Caurun finally murmured. "It would explain why they want her so badly."

"You believe there is a similar core in her system?" Perceptor asked, focusing on the new subject, patching Teletraan-1 in to alert Prime and the others to the possibility.

"It fits with what I do know, but it's not the only explanation," Caurun cautioned. "Unlike you, what makes a First Commandant a First Commandant isn't something that's openly known outside the upper ranks of the military, and probably the king or queen. What I do know, thanks to her extensive records, is that she has undergone two very dramatic changes in her nature in her short life. The first was when she began to win in the arena. It may or may not be related. But when she became First Commandant-elect, she changed again. She calmed down, became more focused, showed a gift for large-scale tactics in offense and defense -- all the things the world military leader needs to excel at their job.

"I chalked it up to success in the arena, possibly finding a teacher or life goal, and then the training she presumably had before her final promotion. I've heard whispers that no one faces a First Commandant, you face _the_ First Commandant from military types, but I always brushed it off as education and mindset. But if it's do to something like your Matrix of Leadership, then the Polidrin wouldn't be safe, or able to claim the actual victory, until they had it in their choice for First Commandant. Until then, he'd be a pretender and the entire military would know. That she could rally them into a revolt would be a real possibility."

"I see... it is possible that she wouldn't be aware of it, from what we understand, if it were true," Perceptor told him. "If you do have to fire on her, you should avoid chest shots."

"I'll try," he agreed. "If it is similar, it definitely has differences too," he added. "It probably burns the bot it's in out after a millennia ... or maybe it just wants a change that often. No First Commandant has ever survived a takeover, even though the king or queen sometimes does. It was a wild theory when it first occurred to me that they _did_ something to whoever became the First Commandant, but this is a big step beyond even that."

"Unfortunately, the very possibility means that it is imperative we get her away from the Decepticons. If they discover this, and it does turn out to be true, they'd stop at little to claim it for themselves," Perceptor said seriously.

"If it's true, it also means there is a possibility I can return with _it_, and leave her be," Caurun added. "Yours changes personality, form ... does it give knowledge or other abilities?"

"You would have to speak to Optimus - I honestly have no idea, and he may not be allowed to say," Perceptor admitted.

"I understand," Caurun assured him. "I was just curious how crazy my idea is. It still sounds kind of fantastical to me, to be honest. Do you remember much about Cybertron?"

"I have a virtually eidetic memory," Perceptor chuckled. "I remember quite a bit about it. Cybertron has been entirely mechanical for all of our recorded history."

"Is the rest of the system?" Caurun asked curiously. "Lydrom was a world like earth, back when the Lydrom race ran it. They're the creatures that created my kind."

"Most of what we've explored, though much of it appears to have been developed from a standard planet into a mechanical one. Both of Cybertron's moons are as seemingly artificial as our world itself. Are these the creatures you're talking about?" Perceptor asked curiously, projecting an image of the creature Jazz had seen in Ezara's mindscape.

"That's a female Lydrom, yes," he flicked his chin to the right. "Did Jazz get it from Starshine, or have you encountered them?"

"Jazz retrieved it - I simply wished to confirm what we suspected," Perceptor explained. "Do you have an example of the male?" He asked curiously.

"I can show you, if you'll let me," Caurun said carefully. "Something like a direct download into your memory. A picture is all I'll send," he promised.

"I am willing to open a broader interface, if you would like," Perceptor told him. "My secured interfaces are virtually impossible to breach; I had them upgraded to top of the line from the Golden Age while I was at Altihex."

"I would like that," Caurun smiled slightly and reached over to place his hand on Perceptor's right shoulder. "Mine are not nearly so impressive, but they're obvious enough," he said, both out loud and across the connection he established. "This is a male Lydrom," he said as he appeared in the front of Perceptor's mindscape with an image of a creature very similar to the female, except for the lack of milk-producing glands on the chest. Time with the humans, and what Jazz had passed on, had given Perceptor a better understanding of the more subtle differences in build and that they were physically compatible with humans, though he could not see the reproductive organs on this one. The other noticeable difference was that the Lydrom stood roughly half Caurun's height; twice the height of a human male.

Perceptor adjusted his own biological form, adopting a similar one. It came out looking far more effeminate in the end, and about a head shorter than Caurun. The adjustments gave Caurun the chance to look around ... it looked like he'd stepped into the very room they were sitting in, rather than Perceptor's quarters. Only this one was much more personalized to whoever was supposed to own it, in a strange way. Ghostly images, layered from some time in the past. Holodisplays on the desk, medals on the wall. Clearly, Perceptor had been familiar enough with it before that he still held onto that past.

"Who's bed will I be resting on?" he asked, and regretted it even before Perceptor registered the question. "You do not need to answer that. Are you always a bio in your head?"

"Not always," Perceptor told him. "However, it's polite to adopt one when dealing with one. And no offense taken," he reassured him. "He was the one who convinced me to join the Autobots. We lost him on the trip over," he explained briefly.

"He must have been special, to convince a scientist to take up arms," Caurun said as he focused on Perceptor's new form. "You make a rather pretty Lydrom," he smiled, trying to find a less painful subject to discuss and privately cursed what this job had done to his social skills. There was a time when he would have welcomed meeting a stranger and felt at ease with it. Now he felt so desperate for company he was at a loss on what to do when he finally had some.

"Thank you," Perceptor said, his biological form blushing slightly. "You're quite handsome yourself. Do your people place particular importance on gender, or is it a holdover?"

"Holdover," Caurun said as he sat down and tried to find his old chatting skills. "We still remember the bios who created us, and some of their culture. My lineage has been doing this job since their time. Ten generations ago we worked for Lydrom, now we work for ourselves, but the work is the same from the memories that have been passed on."

"You still have a standard family structure?" Perceptor asked him curiously. "Similar to what your creators had?"

"Similar, though I believe it is more loosely defined, and less important to most. Hunting is one of the professions that is still largely passed down to your own younglings, rather than trained in a school or by working. It's highly specialized and while there is a constant need, it is not great. Those of us in it typically only train our own replacements."

"I see," he nodded. "We have the concept, but it's _much_ looser. More often brothers than anything else, and at times that's interchangeable with more intimate relationships. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are the obvious example."

"Comrades, brothers, lovers," Caurun guessed. "That is common too, when you get in the more general population. At least hunters tend to stay fairly close to those who create them. We're something of a specialized design."

"I understand," Perceptor agreed. "You are attracted to me, in this form?" He asked, getting around the preliminaries he'd always found so awkward.

"Yes," Caurun's face flushed a slightly darker shade of blue under the fine fur. "I haven't had company in a very long time," he said just as awkwardly.

"I'm willing to change that," Perceptor told him. "You'll just have to take the lead - I'm not very familiar with this form," he said with a deep blush of his own.

"That I can do," Caurun smiled at him and stood, taking a more active control of the space they were in and creating one with a soft bed more suited for their biological forms. He offered a hand to Perceptor, guiding the scientist to his feet and drew him close to feel each other's body heat and heartbeat. "Thank you," he murmured as he tipped Perceptor's face up and kissed him lightly, testing how much they did have by way of common knowledge.

The scientist returned the kiss, running a hand down Caurun's side, getting a feel for the powerful muscle beneath his short, fine blue fur as he licked at Caurun's lips lightly.

When the hunter opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, he also quietly passed a data pack to Perceptor covering the less obvious parts of the Lydrom design. "It's more fun with everything there," Caurun chuckled and ran his hands down the lighter frame to slide a thumb under Perceptor's tail, still tucked in it's natural position, to lightly rub the thicker fur of his balls and sheath.

The smaller male moaned softly, lowering his tail as he rubbed Caurun's back.

"Agreed... what do you particularly enjoy?" He asked him, running slender fingers down his firm ass.

Language failed Caurun briefly, so he sent images with what he knew the acts as. "I'm fairly simple in my pleasure," he murmured, sliding his palm flat along Perceptor's groin to encourage him to hardness.

"Simple can be a good thing," Perceptor groaned, slipping down to his knees to nuzzle Caurun's groin once his feathery tail was out of the way, licking his sheath with a rough tongue. "I like it that way too," he reassured him, with a few mental images of his own.

"Ohh," Caurun groaned, shivering at the images being sent. "I think we can both be indulged," his breath quickened as he pulled Perceptor to his feet and kissed him hard, pulling their bodies together to feel every exquisite difference between their mental images of themselves.

Caurun also stopped asking as he turned and pushed Perceptor down on the bed and climbed on top of him to press their bodies together again. He pressed one knee between Perceptor's, separating the Autobot's legs before he began to rub against him, taking in as much contact as their forms allowed.

Perceptor curled his tail up between them, giving Caurun something more for his balls to rub against as he claimed a kiss, wrapping his legs around the larger male and rubbing back against him. They both quickly hardened, and Caurun took Perceptor right to the edge before lifting his body up.

"What?" Perceptor gazed up at him, a little dazed and the rush of sensations that had been so abruptly taken away.

"Something a little more intimate," Caurun murmured with a lingering kiss as he used his hands to lift Perceptor's ass a bit and position himself to press inside with a deep, low groan at being enveloped by a real lover instead of an all but mindless drone he had to create in the long metacycles alone.

"Mmm ... been a long time," Perceptor groaned, squeezing down around his shaft and scratching his chest lightly.

"A shame," Caurun moaned, trembling as he tried to hold back for at least a few thrusts. "I'd think someone here would like you."

"Mmm ... busy," he murmured, shifting his body a bit, adjusting the pressure on them both so Caurun's shaft rubbed against his prostate, his own shaft twitching and leaking pre into his fur.

"Is that all?" Caurun asked, his tone gentle even as he grunted and thrust a bit harder, no longer able to put off the spiral of ecstasy.

"All I... _needed_," Perceptor grunted, his body tightening as he came, spurting his seed up onto his chest as Caurun roared above him and filled him with a potent rush of pure energy that nearly caused Perceptor to come a second time.

Both panted, drawing lungfuls of air into bodies that didn't require it as they wound down a bit.

Caurun leaned down to kiss him gently. "A life worth living has more than needs," he said softly, brushing Perceptor's cheek with the back of his fingers. "Desires aren't a bad thing to indulge in."

"Not exactly what I meant," Perceptor murmured, returning the kiss. "I haven't really had the time and inclination so much... sex and intimacy were never really my strongest points," he admitted with a low chuckle.

"Why me, then?" Caurun asked softly as he began to thrust again. "Do I remind you of someone you miss?"

"It... mmm... seemed like a good idea at the time," Perceptor admitted. "It _has_ been a long time, for both of us."

"That it has," Caurun smiled and kissed him. "I'm just insufferably nosy," he tried to soothe him. "It's what makes me good at my job."

"Mmm ... I understand," the smaller male murmured into the kiss. "Do you ... mmm ... want me to turn over?"

"Sure," he shifted, pulling out and giving Perceptor room to roll over and settle on his hands and knees. "You are sexy when you feel like it," Caurun said as he pressed into his body again. Caurun grabbed Perceptor's tail on a whim, using it to pull the smaller male against him harder when he thrust forward.

Perceptor grunted as Caurun hilted inside of him, pressing back into his thrusts, squeezing down when he drew back.

"I'm not... mmm... all brain," he panted, milking the throbbing shaft inside him hungrily, encouraging Caurun to fuck him harder.


	7. Seeking Comfort

_Fandom_: Transformers G1  
_Pairing_: Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/F  
_Codes_: Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: With Starscream's beating still fresh in her mind, Ezara seeks some comfort in Skywarp's arms.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 07: Seeking Comfort**

* * *

Ezara staggered into her quarters, smaller and simpler than those of the other Decepticons, and lacking in personalization. It was still a place she could go and not be disturbed for the most part. All she wanted was to shut down for a few decacycles and let her mind process what had happened. Not just what Soundwave and Starscream had done, but what Jazz had said and done as well.

The Autobot had her, she couldn't fight back, she'd nearly killed his leader twice, and badly damaged his second-in-command as well. Yet he'd been nice, tender even, and didn't ask her about anything other than what she wanted. It wasn't the greeting she'd expected when the Autobots captured her.

"Hwy, baby," Skywarp's low croon actually startled her, and nearly got him shot before she processed who was on the flat metal ledge that served as a bed. A moment later it registered that her bed wasn't plain metal anymore, but was covered with blankets and cushions that the black Seeker was laying on. "I thought you'd like something a little softer after twelve decacycles with Soundwave and Starscream," he smiled at her.

"Soundwave wasn't so bad," her weariness hit the forefront of her mind and expression as she gratefully slumped onto the bed and let Skywarp arrange her next to him in his arms. "Starscream ... he was."

"Yeah, he can be," Skywarp murmured. "You should've recharged. You're a mess."

"Three more decacycles before I'm allowed to," she murmured, only barely paying attention any more.

"Why?" he scowled. "That's...."

"Punishment, for disobedience," she shook her head slightly. "I didn't let Thundercracker go when Soundwave ordered me to."

"Oh," he nodded. "So that's why Starscream's been so smug."

"Please don't bring him up," Ezara actually shuddered. "Don't ever want to think about him again."

"Umm, all right," he murmured, not sure if he wanted to know about what could make that kind of impression on her. "Rest. Three decacycles will be over soon."

* * *

"Ezara," Soundwave's resonate voice carried a distinct note of displeasure as he woke her with a direct connection to her mind.

"Huu?" she threw off the dreaming with some difficulty before responding. "Yes, Soundwave?"

"Why did you not tell me that the Autobot Jazz interrogated you?" he demanded coldly.

"Because you never asked for a briefing," she murmured in sleepy confusion. "I wouldn't call that an interrogation either," she pointed out. "Attempt at subversion, maybe, but he didn't _ask_ for anything."

She could feel his displeasure at it in the moment of silence.

"In future, report _all_ contact with Autobots," he ordered.

"Yes, Sir," she responded with simple acceptance of the order before he let her drift off again.

"What did he try to use?" Skywarp asked quietly in her mind, only just keeping his jealously in check as she tried to settle back in to a sleep cycle.

"He tried to convince me that the Autobots had something to offer me," she murmured, already mostly asleep again. "All he came up with was tenderness. I've had better here," she rolled over in the bed in her mind to face him. "You're welcome to look. It was kinda funny listening to him try to make himself out as better than you."

"Is that all he did? Talk?" Skywarp demanded.

"Nah," she yawned and snuggled against his chest. "Sex too. He had some different ideas on it."

"Did he now?" Skywarp pushed her to her back and pinned her down.

"Sky...." she looked up at him. "I barely have the energy to talk."

"Then I'll just make sure I come first," he spread her legs with a knee and rubbed his erection along her short tail to encourage it to relax and expose her. "I think you could use a little pleasure after what you've been through."

He leaned down to kiss her, engaging her mouth in a battle she was in no condition to win. "You know I can make you feel very good," he crooned, groaning as her tail slid away and his penis slid along her sex.

"Yes, you do," Ezara murmured, relaxing to let him do as he wished. She knew she couldn't resist him at this point, and he had a point. It _would_ make her feel better, at least a little.

Skywarp claimed her mouth again and slid into her body with a groan of pleasure. "Damn ... you feel good," he whispered into her mouth as she wrapped her legs along his, encouraging him to thrust.

"That's the idea," Ezara moaned softly when he entwined their fingers and brought her hands to her sides in a distinct mimic of what the Autobot had done. The feel of it couldn't have been more different though. Jazz has used the leverage to take her on an intense ride of raw pleasure. Skywarp was using it to establish a claim of ownership. To prove to himself that she wasn't leaving.

The rush of energy when he grunted and drove in harder was welcome though, and brought her up to a level where desire clicked in again.

"Told you you'd feel better," Skywarp said with a smug look before kissing her soundly. "You may not be permitted to recharge, but I'll split my share for now."

"In exchange for pleasure," she lifted her head to kiss him. "Hardly a bad deal."


	8. Raiding for a Sword

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Ravage/Ezara, Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: NC-17 for M/F  
_Codes_: Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: With all the pain and degradation that was her last encounter with Starscream and Soundwave, it did break a few more locks, and set in motion a lot more

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 08: Raiding for a Sword**

* * *

Ezara finished charging, or at least absorbing the charge that was her fair share, and sat up with a plan. All it required was Megatron's approval. Skywarp would always be willing to follow her.

She walked into the main room and settled into a shadow to watch as Megatron finished with Starscream, leaving the red and white Seeker slumped against the wall. She knew it was cruel, but she couldn't help the smile it brought to her lips after what Starscream had done to her. She waited until he had let the Seeker go and turned around before addressing him.

"Lord Megatron," she asked smoothly. "I would like to take Skywarp for a small raid."

"Bring something back," he ordered before walking out.

"So what are we looking for?" Skywarp asked as he moved to follow her into the lift.

"Remember those ruby crystals of Burma?" she gave him a secretive smile. "I think I remembered how to do something very useful with that kind of material. We'll hit something for Megatron on the way back."

"Useful in what way?" he asked as they took off.

"A weapon, like my sai, but much, much more deadly."

"So I'm just playing guard," he sighed.

"Hardly," Ezara slipped next to him to touch his cheek. "Well, maybe. I'll grant that I don't want to go out alone, but I _like_ your company."

"Are you charged enough for the run?" He asked her, perking up and moving to follow her.

"From what I'm working out, I could have absorbed that entire tanker worth of energon and not be fully charged, but I have enough," she promised. "The rubies will provide a nice refueling for both of us as well as raw materials."

"I'm game then. Are you going to be sharing your trick, or is it something you want to keep to yourself?"

"Soundwave is the only one who even might be able to pick it up," she said. "It's all about crystal harmonics and shaping with sound and will. Energy-bearing crystals make the best weapons. If it works, it won't be long before Soundwave works it out for himself."

"All the same - if _you_ present it, it'll be points for you, not Soundwave," Skywarp explained as they flew towards Burma.

"I can make weapons for others," she said, considering the logic and filing that tidbit of Decepticon politics away for later. "Though I'm not entirely sure how effective they'd be for you, and they aren't your style of fighting."

"Not mine, no," he agreed. "Megatron prefers a flail, when he's up close. But... well, _some_ of us are pretty good with swords."

"I can make a mace, or staff, spear ... pretty much any hand-held weapon," she all but cooed in excitement. "It's been so long since I've had my full arsenal available. It'll be good to be back in fighting shape."

"Your people didn't use blasters much, did they?" Skywarp asked her. "You've got a lot of very physical weapons, from what I've seen."

"We did, long ago," she said. "Once you master energy absorption and incorporate it into the default design, they become fairly useless. It sent us back to projectile and hand-to-hand in just a few kistacycles."

"That's how you were able to shrug off Prime's blaster," Skywarp guessed. "Ever run into too much energy to absorb?"

She pointed at the sun. "That'd _probably_ overload me," she gave him a smile. "So not yet, but I don't expect I'd still be around if I had. Anything that can push more energy in than I can burn in a battle ... maybe Megatron's canon. I'm not keen on finding out."

"Nobody in their right mind is," he chuckled. "He doesn't usually use it at full power, thankfully. I don't think any of us have actually seen that happen, now that I think about it."

"Considering the power it must take to fire at full power, it would be quite a risk to take," she pointed out. "If it didn't drain him completely, it would come close. He doesn't have _that_ much energy in him. An excellent weapon of last resort, or insane rage, but not much else."

"Oh, it does plenty of damage at lower power too - that rockslide was nothing," Skywarp pointed out. "Starscream thinks he doesn't want to admit what his full-power is - if he keeps it under wraps, then nobody can start to think they could take the hit. Of course, that's assuming it's _lower_ than any of us think it is."

"From what I see, and feel, Megatron is downplaying what he can do, if anything," Ezara told him seriously. "Probably keeping it to what he can do and have a reasonable chance of surviving himself. Don't anger him enough to try it."

"Hadn't planned on it," Skywarp agreed. "Your memories getting better now?"

"Yes," she flicked her chin up and smiled. "There's still more missing than there, but I'm remembering a lot of how-to things, not so much personal."

"More'll come in time. This weapon business - that's part of what came back to you? Lucky it didn't get trashed when Soundwave worked you over."

"He wants what's in my head," she flicked her chin left. "He won't do any real damage if he can help it, and I'm pretty sure he's very good at what he's doing. But, yes, it's part of it. He asked if I knew how to build what was in my current mindscape. The weapons feel like one of the first skills I learned in crystal shaping, or maybe just the most important to me. If I make this work, I can work out buildings and the generator system."

"Generator system?" Skywarp asked her, his interest clearly hooked.

"The way most of my homeworld is powered," she glossed over it a bit. "I'll show you around next time we have a bit of downtime. Soundwave seems to think that if I can remember enough for the small-scale type I do understand, it can be adapted to power all of Cybertron. Something about the one I remember producing enough power in an hour to fuel your world for a day."

"If you remember how to do that, _definitely_ get it to Megatron before Soundwave does," Skywarp chuckled. "Teach him a richly deserved lesson."

"Do you know an engineer I can work with?" she asked, thinking about how to take half-complete theoretical knowledge into a functional form without Soudwave's help. "I understand the theory, given enough time and resources I could probably make a small one, but it's not something I actually _did_ before. Kinda like how you know enough to do field repairs if you have to, but you aren't a med-bot."

"Understood," he nodded. "We might be able to get somebody here from Cybertron, once we get the space bridge working again."

"What's broken with it?" she asked, even more interested than he had been in the generator.

"I have no idea," Skywarp admitted. "It only connects to Cybertron though," he pointed out.

"It's a different planet," Ezara said. "He's still be looking for me on Earth, and I'll be elsewhere."

"True, but then you won't be able to help us destroy him," Skywarp pointed out. "It'll be a lot easier with you around."

"Backup plan," she smiled at him. "Or if I need longer than I have here. As strong as I am with a full charge, I'm still no where near ready to fight him head-on yet."

"Not on your own, but remember - you've got Megatron and the Decepticons behind you," he said with a grin in his voice. "We should be reaching Burma soon - how long do you think we'll be here?"

"I should be able to dig out enough crystals for several weapons in a few minutes, but I want to stay and eat for as long as possible if they are what I think they are," Ezara told him. "A few hours at any rate."

"No problem," he reassured her. "What is it you think they are?"

"A crystalline energy form," she said as they angled down to where the battle had been less than a year before. She transformed to her feral form a few meters above the ground and landed with a resounding thud before she disappeared into the earth before Skywarp could even set down.

"Let me know if you come across anything," he radioed down to her and settled in to watch for any signs of trouble while she dug and did whatever else she was up to.

"Is there something besides rubies and a collapsed mine down here?" she asked over the crunch of earth and rock being consumed and pushed aside.

"There shouldn't be, but you never know around here," Skywarp shrugged mentally. "There shouldn't be crystallized energy around here, from what we know about it, after all."

"Gotcha," she replied before poking her head above ground and disgorging a large pile of rubies near his feet. "Those are for weapons; coming back with us. Call me if we need to go," she added before digging down again, disappearing from view as fast as she'd appeared.

* * *

"Ravage, where's Soundwave?" Ezara asked when she spotted the panther in the hallway; touching his forehead and mind ever so lightly so he could talk to her more clearly.

"Out, with Megatron," he answered. "Need him?"

"I just need to tell him that I'm going to lock my mind, and door, for a few decacycles. I have a project to work on that could blow up rather badly if I'm distracted at the wrong moment."

"Can I watch? I'll be still and silent," Ravage promised, his tail almost wagging at the prospect. "I've told Master. Not happy, but agrees."

"If you want," Ezara chuckled and patted him on the head. "Thank you for passing that along. I didn't want it to surprise him. Crystal shaping is not the safest thing to walk in on."

"Soundwave will want to know how it goes - my being there will be less trouble than Laserbeak," he explained silently, getting up to follow her.

"Agreed," she said without hesitation as they headed for her quarters. "You're nicer to look at too."

She felt a gentle pressure against her mind, and knew that he was asking permission to come in. She had little doubt what he had in mind, too - he might be looking for information, but there was a distinct interest in the contact as well. He didn't get the chance to enjoy himself when he wasn't "on the job" very often, she was sure.

She let him in and greeted him with an affectionate hug as they walked, no outside indication of what was going on inside. "I'd love to play a bit before I start," she smiled and opened the door to her quarters. "A little hunting first?" she suggested as her mind-form morphed into a panther similar to him and the settling to a thick jungle rich with life.

"What prey do you have in mind?" Ravage asked her as his own form approached her, rubbing his face against her shoulder affectionately as he ran through a few mental images. Massive beasts from Cybertron's past, and other worlds he'd seen. Some of the natives, dark-skinned and armed with weapons of their own. Prey he'd enjoyed hunting, along with mental notes of the easiest ways to stalk them.

He purred deeply as she rubbed back just as affectionately and selected a fleet-footed beast from his mind. Her form morphed slightly, giving her longer legs and greater endurance.

"Run, fast and hard. Tear it to shreds. Mate in the pool of hot energy that flows from its dead body," she rumbled, mental images flowing of the basic idea and how hungry it made her.

He growled lowly in approval, excited to have such an interesting, and interested, bot around. With a light nip to her shoulder he turned to face the sound of their prey in the foliage, dropping down to stalk closer while it wasn't fleeing _just_ yet.

He felt her move off, circling around to help in the ambush, even as she detached a bit of her mind to control the prey so she didn't know what it was going to do, beyond an intimate knowledge of plant-eaters.

He knew he was close enough that one good leap would end it ... but he knew that wasn't what she wanted. Instead, he cloaked himself, then intentionally misstepped, breaking a twig and alerting the creature.

And the hunt was on. He leaped out after them, prey and his prospective mate alike, intentionally hanging back here and there, letting the chase drag on. He leaped into the trees at one point, coming down in front of the beast and slashing it with his claws. He opened a shallow wound on its shoulder, but not enough to stop it. Just enough to add a little spice to the hunt, the scent of pain and terror to the air for him to savor.

Ravage could feel her excitement too, her approval as she played with their dinner; snapping at it's legs, it's short fluff of a tail, it's sides. Drawing bright pink energon from everywhere that wouldn't kill quickly.

He purred low in his chest as their prey began to slow it's pace, leaking power. He'd hunted in bio-form in his head before, which was sometimes more satisfying - but there was something about a hunt that they could perform in reality that was delightful. He'd have to try and talk her into it some time - her own feral form might be less stealthy, but it would be a glorious time.

Finally, their prey dove into thicker foliage, which Ravage knew was a desperate attempt to try and hide. When he heard the footfalls stop, he pounced, landing on it and uncloaking as his teeth latched around its throat, sharp teeth biting through lubricant lines, tearing through every non-vital system he could to drag this out longer.

Ezara was on it a pulse-beat later. Her long claws slit it's belly open without cutting anything vital. She tore at the large muscles, downing chunks of meat and lapping at the energy flowing all around them, soaking their short, sleek fur.

He swallowed some of the still-dying animal himself, gorging his belly before he rolled around in the raw energon that stained the ground, soaking in it as he shifted to his fully biological form, the better to enjoy their mating.

She was on him with a playful pounce in the middle of a roll, her scent and mind intoxicated with destruction and lust. "Good hunt," she rumbled.

"Very good," he returned, licking her jaw and rolling over on top of her, biting down on her shoulder playfully and felt a thrill as she lowered her shoulders and lifted her haunches with her tail to the side.

"Want more," she moaned lustfully. "Mate me."

The energon around their feet sparkled as he mounted her, thrusting his barbed shaft into her sex, biting down on her scruff possessively. He had a hard time remembering the last time anyone was this willing to be with him, had actually _asked_ him to mate.

"Hay!" Skywarp's voice went from startled to a storm of jealous rage in the fraction of a second it took him to comprehend what he was looking at when he appeared in Ezara's mind. He ran forward and grabbed Ravage's scruff, trying to pull him off Ezara.

There was a good reason that most Transformers, Decepticon or otherwise, didn't have beast forms - and that only Ravage had one as his original design. The outer form had always been reflective of the personality within, at first - even Laserbeak had once been more normal, until Soundwave had rebuilt him. Ravage, however, had chosen an animalistic form from the beginning, and Skywarp was about to learn why. As he was pulled off of 'his' mate, he returned to his mechanical form, lashing out at Skywarp and carving into his body with his claws with a very clear message.

"_Mine_."

Skywarp barely had time to process it when Ravage was knocked off him by Ezara's feral form.

She had an easy time pinning the smaller mech down. "_He_ is mine," she growled down at Ravage. "No attacking."

"Teach him his place then," Ravage growled lowly, moving beyond raw instinct. "He's yours, not the other way around."

"I will," she said as she let Ravage up and transformed to her base form to turn to Skywarp.

"The last time I heard about him touching you, you were _not_ a very willing participant," Skywarp pointed out. "I could have taken him."

That raised an eyebrow. "As the one there, I tell you that you're wrong. I begged for it then, and I suggested it now." She stepped a little closer and ran a finger along his cheek. "It's sweet of you to try and protect me, Sky," she said, her approval clear to all three of them. "I don't need it from Ravage. I'm not the type that will ever be exclusive, and this isn't a place that encourages it."

"I understand," he said uncomfortably, though here, they could both tell it was more out of wanting to avoid a fight than anything else.

"We can discuss this after I make my sword," she promised him with a kiss. "Now, out of my head, both of you," she ordered with a chuckle. "Distractions during crystal shaping are bad, and you're both far more interesting than the crystals."


	9. Discussing the Matrix

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Perceptor/Caurun, Perceptor/Acid Burn  
_Rating_: PG-13  
_Codes_: None  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Optimus gets more information on Lydrom and the war, and likes it less and less with every revelation.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 9: Discussing the Matrix**

* * *

"Caurun, if you have a moment," Optimus Prime walked up to the alien bot as he was watching TV with several others.

"Of course," he said and quickly stood to walk with the Autobot leader so they wouldn't interrupt the others. "What can I try to explain?"

"First off, just what do you know about this possible 'Matrix' that you told Perceptor about?" Optimus Prime asked him, motioning to an area slightly off to the side so they wouldn't interrupt the others as much. "It's a subject of extreme interest, for reasons I'm sure you can guess."

"I know very little about the Matrix you have," Caurun said as he sat down. "I know even less about what makes the First Commandant so special. What I do know is that the First Commandants have all had a similar personality profile, no matter where they came from, once they had the rank. Until Perceptor mentioned the Matrix, I had a wild theory that they did _something_ to whoever was going to become the First Commandant, but no idea what. It's still wild conjecture, but it fits with what little I know."

"Can you describe the changes?" Optimus Prime asked as he took a seat. "It might sound familiar to me."

Caurun went quiet, organizing his thoughts and the data he had across the generations of leaders to bear the title.

"Greater mass, better weapons, faster, more forms ... nothing that can't be explained by normal upgrades," he cautioned, inherently uneasy with the idea that it was much more than that. "The harder things to explain are the acquisition of every special ability and trick of their predecessors, along with their knowledge."

"Habits and voice?" Optimus Prime asked him, trying to clarify things he could think of that would be harder to explain. "Personality traits?"

"Some, not really, and some," Caurun answered as best he could. "Starshine is still a street bot and arena fighter, and she falls back on those rules and ways pretty quickly when you get her alone or cornered. But from the war records I was given, when you get her in front of an army, she's completely different.

"She has a nearly perfect tactical mind by all assessments, understanding her troops and adjusting tactics to best use what she has. The one before her, Rawlind of the Vistra, he was a scientist of all things. He brought a very analytical, logical style that wasn't there before. He became much more aggressive after he became First Commandant, but he never really lost that science mindset of think first, then double check, then act if it's a good idea. When Starshine became First Commandant, she started acting more like him, thinking things through, calculating odds ... but that could have been because he trained her."

"Possibly," Optimus Prime nodded. "Ultimately, the only way to know for sure is to look for it after we capture her. Does it happen when there's a change in government as well?"

"Yes. This is the first war where the First Commandant didn't fall in battle to their successor and didn't vanquish them. The armies seem to have worked it out, but the leaders haven't," Caurun struggled to explain a mindset and culture he had only the briefest of contact with and even less understanding of. "I'm not even sure how much of the records I was given are complete fiction. All I'm really sure of about her is what I've seen while hunting her."

"Which brings us to the next issue," Optimus Prime nodded. "How much do you know about how the war played out? Not from news reports or official records, but how much you saw."

"I had to hit the deck once because my fugitive thought it was a bright idea to loose me in the battle zone," Caurun shrugged. "Like I said before, this is my fourth change of leadership and fifth war. They're non-events for civvies like me. The military fights. It's just what they do. They don't bother us much, and we stay clear of them. Our lives don't change much no matter who's in charge, or what they call themselves. This one was weird from the get-go, but it is what it is. Just another scuffle by the upper ranks about who's name is in charge."

"So you witnessed very little of it yourself," Optimus Prime clarified.

"Next to nothing," Caurun flicked his chin to the right. "Civvies don't usually get involved."

"What're they payin' ya?" Jazz suddenly asked. "If you've stayed clear of five wars, why get involved now?"

Caurun sighed. "I'm being paid the ship I have, upgraded to the latest tech when I get back and ten million chips. It's an amazing amount of money, more than I'd see in my lifetime normally," he said honestly. "I took the job when we realized that they just were not going to take no for an answer. I'm still on the hunt for the lives of my family -- my ... you don't have a word for it. She's the love of my life, bonded, literally my other half, our three younglings, and their five younglings," he dropped his gaze. "As it's dragged on, they kept upping the value. Then started to threaten my family. If I don't have her back in the next five cyracycles, they will begin to kill my younglings."

"Why did you not tell us this before?" Optimus Prime asked as he regarded the hunter.

"I really was hoping that you'd turn her over without a fuss. It _is_ an internal military affair for Lydrom," Caurun answered. "Good, bad or indifferent, she fought hard for her place in place in the military, and she accepted the consequences, at least legally. She shouldn't have run from her duties, but she did, and now she's a fugitive."

"Why you?" Prowl asked. "If you are a civilian as you say, and you have stayed out of every conflict to date, why involve you and not send their own troops?"

"I've asked myself, and them, more than once," Caurun sighed deeply. "I get gibberish for an answer, and they get _very_ defensive and threatening. The best answer I've gotten so far is that I'm the best hunter Lydrom's produced. The best of the only lineage of hunters that goes back to when the Lydrom people still ruled our world. The first of my line hunted Lydrom for his master. Then we hunted rouge Tezita for them. It didn't take long for everyone to realize that even though the Lydrom were gone, we had inherited enough of their culture, their thoughts and ways, that there were still criminals, and still those who would run from the law or their punishments. That meant hunters were still needed. We never hunted for the military until now, and I never want to again."

"It is possible, if she still has something like the Matrix, that any military they send after her might join her instead," Prowl hypothesized. "It is possible they believe that a civilian, or anyone capable of ignoring the war, is largely immune to whatever effects it might have on their own forces."

"How are you sure you can trust them, after you return her?" Optimus Prime asked him. "From what I've seen, they're willing to put civilians in the line of fire without real qualms, and you've already said that they're threatening to kill innocents in order to get her brought back. Not even innocents connected to her - innocents connected to the bounty hunter they're sending out for her."

"I am _not_ a bounty hunter," Caurun snapped before he caught himself. "It may not be much of a difference for you, but a bounty hunter will work for whoever pays. I _only_ hunt fugitives from the law. Yes, I get paid for my work, but I'm not available to the highest bidder."

"My apologies," Optimus Prime responded. "I did not mean to offend. That is not a distinction I am familiar with."

"I'm learning that is far too common," Caurun sighed. "For the rest ... I don't have much of a choice," he pointed out. "But they don't have a reason to lie either."

"Not necessarily... but they may have a reason to lie about what she's done," Optimus Prime responded. "You see the difficulty, and the extra layers that this question introduces. Would you be willing to explore other solutions to your situation?"

"Why not?" Caurun sounded anything but happy. "I do not understand your reluctance to return her to her own people, to her own legal system, but you're calling the shots with this right now, Optimus Prime. She's in your custody."

"My concern is that I may be returning her to a group that has done the same things that she has," Optimus explained. "And, to judge by what you've said they're willing to do to get their hands on her, I'm inclined to believe that is the case. However, if we could find a way to reach your world, it may be possible to rescue your loved ones from them."

"My ship couple take a couple of you, hers maybe one," Caurun tried to think about it. "I don't know enough about it to help build a larger one. If they're telling me the truth about the new ships, we could probably lure one here, but then you have to deal with its crew, and getting to Lydrom before anyone realizes something went wrong. Even if you can manage all that, you're talking about uprooting my entire family and making them fugitives without a way to go home," he told them. "I'm doing this so I can go home, not force my family to never see it again."

"I understand," Optimus nodded. "And, ultimately, you'll have to do what you have to do. I just wanted to make sure you knew there was another option available to you."

"If you can come up with a plan that seems likely to work, I will listen to it," Caurun promised. "I've just had six kistacycles to think about options, and I haven't found anything very palatable yet. Please think about this, Optimus Prime. If you give her asylum, with or without helping my family, you are declaring war against a people who do nothing else. The military are scary bots when they're calm. I'm reasonably confident they will not respond calmly to this."

"I understand," Optimus nodded, accepting it as the warning it seemed to be. "It would not be the first time we've faced foes from the outside, and it would not be the last, I'm sure."

"Okay," Caurun tried to relax. "What else can I try to tell you about?"

"Moving away from Lydrom and politics for a little bit, how do you feel about Perceptor?" Optimus asked him with a chuckle at the Tezita's startled response.

"Umm, he's been good company," Caurun said as he tried to put together exactly what he was being asked. "I've been alone a long time, and he's not looking for anything more than I am of it."

"A bit 'o fun," Jazz chuckled. "Didn't think he was the type."

"Commitment and grief both have a way of making it look like that," Caurun said quietly.

"They do, though he wasn't particularly relationship-driven beforehand, either," Wheeljack offered from his workstation. "I knew him by reputation - if he'd been a human, he'd have been a classic science 'nerd,' as Spike puts it."

Caurun's attention flicked from Wheeljack to Optimus Prime, a calculating look in his optics in the momentary silence.

"I knew about Acid Burn and Perceptor," Optimus Prime said evenly as soon as he realized what Caurun was trying to work out. "It wasn't a secret, they just didn't care to make much of it, especially Perceptor."

"They weren't a casual pairing, Optimus," Caurun said very quietly. "He's barely started to process it, but it will hit him eventually that Acid Burn really is gone for good."

"I know," Optimus Prime nodded. "Perceptor's a good mech though, and a good soldier, as much as he'd rather not hear it some days. He'll cope, and we'll be ready for it to happen. We've all lost loved ones during the war, some of us more than once, some of us even less prepared for it than Perceptor was," he said, something in his tone saying that he was speaking from personal experience.

Caurun nodded, taking his word for it. "Things like that make me very glad I'm a civvie," he admitted. "Even in my job I haven't lost anyone close to me. I'll never understand how the military types do it."

"Not all of them can," Optimus admitted. "Usually, it's the fact that there's a job to be done, and knowing that the one you lost wouldn't want to see you stop living because of them. You may also be misinterpreting what you saw in Perceptor's mind. He cared deeply for Acid Burn, yes. However, the layers of memory over everything is common for him, from what I understand. It's part of his processing style."

"I do hope you are right," Caurun flicked his chin up. "He's got a good Spark in him, and a lot to offer society."

"And he knows it," Wheeljack chuckled. "Don't worry - we keep an eye on our own."

"Do you have anything else you'd like to ask about?" Prime asked Caurun. "While we have the chance."

"If you can talk about it, I would like to know what the Matrix ... well, what it _does_," he tried to find the words for his curiosity.

"I can't tell you everything about it, for the simple reason that I don't know everything yet," Optimus explained. "The Matrix is connected to the Spark of Cybertron itself; whoever it chooses to lead becomes the Prime, defender of Cybertron and leader of its military. When we finally pass on, we become one with the Matrix before passing it to our successor, who either becomes the next Prime or carries the Matrix until the new Prime is found. And so, the Matrix becomes stronger, absorbing the Sparks of those it selected to lead. Eventually, when Cybertron faces its darkest hour, the Matrix will light our way through it. But until then... we fight the war as best we can."

"Cybertron is alive?" Caurun asked with a touch of surprise in his voice.

"In a similar way to how we are alive," Optimus Prime explained. "It has a Spark of its own, which Vector Sigma is tied into, and from which all ours are drawn."

"Oh wow," Caurun barely breathed the word. "When Perceptor said you were more like brothers ... wow," he shut up as he tried to process that revelation.

"It's not as direct a relationship as you might imagine," Optimus Prime offered. "Brother Sparks are drawn out, like Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but the bonds aren't usually that strong."

"Still, a living world ... you come about in a _very_ different way than Tezita do," he organized his thoughts to explain his reaction better. "A new Tezita is created when two or more give a portion of their own Spark to a new body. Lydrom is just a shell compared to Cybertron."

"It is a method we've seen elsewhere," Optimus nodded. "Cybertron does seem relatively unique in that respect, but we haven't seen enough different worlds to know for sure. It does instill a purpose in most of us, though, particularly the leaders among us. It's just that that purpose can be corrupted at times - leading to individuals like Megatron."

"What was he before, that he became a dictator?" Caurun asked. "What corrupted his programming?"

"Nobody's sure, except for him," Optimus said, shaking his head. "He wasn't a particularly well-known figure. It's clear that he was involved in Cybertron's underground fighting circuit; it's how he identified those who would become the Decepticons. He was probably the first to go through the Forge, so we can't even be sure what he originally was. Starscream, I could tell you parts of it, but Megatron's an enigma."

"The Forge?" Caurun prompted, his curiosity as open as his lack of knowledge.

"Would-be Decepticons were chosen from the lead warriors in the underground arenas," Ironhide explained as he walked over. "Those Megatron chose to take went through the Forge, where they were rebuilt and refined into more perfect war machines. It was also where a lot of them picked up flight ability, which actually won them a little admiration from some of the civilians who didn't have it. When they did strike, it was like nothing we'd seen before. Honestly? I think it has to do with Kaon. Wouldn't be surprised to find out that's where the old rust-bucket came from."

"Do you know where this Forge is?" Caurun asked, something of a plan playing in the back of his processors.

"Back on Cybertron, and judging by what happened, probably _in_ Kaon," Jazz told them. "We wouldn't need that to make any changes though. Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Perceptor can do anything that was needed, short of building new mechs."

"Why haven't you reconfigured a few of yours to be fliers then?" Caurun asked.

"When was the last time _you_ wanted somebody to go in and stick new organs in your body?" Ironhide pointed out. "I've fought things that fly before, I'll fight 'em again, I'm doing just fine as it is."

"That's why," Wheeljack chuckled. "We _can_ make changes and do upgrades, but not many people particularly want us to. I'm considering designs for a new Special Team, but building them takes getting back to Vector Sigma, and we can't do that yet."

"If I could upgrade to a flyer, I'd do it in a trillocycle," Caurun chuckled as well. "I can understand the reluctance, however," he glanced at Ironhide. "Change does not suit everyone."

"What were you considering when the Forge was mentioned?" Optimus brought the subject around.

"That it could be used to bring your own fliers up to par, and if you capture it, Megatron would be denied a powerful weapon in replenishing his forces," Caurun explained. "Even the odds a bit."

"We've considered it - but if it _is_ in Kaon, we'll have an easier time reconquering Cybertron. Cybertronian city-states are as alive as we are, in their own way," Optimus explained.

"I really should have seen that one coming," Caurun shook his head with a low chuckle.

"Hey guys, what's goin' on?" Bumblebee asked as he walked over.

"We're just talking to Caurun about Cybertron," Optimus Prime said as he realized any useful talking was over with now that the most hyperactive member of his team had found them.


	10. A Change of Mind

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Megatron/Ezara, Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: R for Violence, NC-17 M/F  
_Codes_: Het, BDSM, Public Sex  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Soundwave faces yet another radical change in Ezara's mindscape, and she takes far more from it than he ever expected. But it is when Megatron enters her mind that the real surprises hit.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 10: A Change of Mind**

* * *

When Soundwave appeared in Ezara's mindscape with his cassettes he had to take a moment to assess her again. The stable space had expanded once again. It now exceeded the horizon, and ran deeper than he could sense. Even the locked memory blocks had been incorporated into the worldscape. They were deep, beyond the palace and behind even more locks and security walls that he was sure she did control.

Even more than the physical nature, though, was that it was now full of sound; the hum and buzz of life in an energy-filled world-city. Music poured from clubs and homes, but stronger than it all was the background song of her mind. Militant. Aggressive. Strong. Everything she likely was in her prime.

It was strange; he had her full cooperation, he would break her down, yet every time she was turned loose for a day or two because she could not take any more without shutting down, she came back far stronger than before.

"It's the energy," she said as she formed her robotic self, far more decorated and military than before, near him. "Each time you turn me loose, I gorge on energy. Once I hit a certain level, the rest goes into repairs. The Burma crystals are good for far more than weapons, at least for me. They fueled the rebuilding you see."

"Progress: unlocking memories?" Soundwave asked as he assessed and accessed her current state and the unsettling fact that she had read his thoughts.

"Other than being even more secure than before, nothing," she told him. "I have control over the new security, but no progress on the old stuff. It's still treating me like the enemy."

"Results of building: How much control?" Soundwave asked as he considered what he was looking at. If he had not been sure she wasn't an intel-bot before, he was now. This mindscape was that of a warrior, one that was accustomed to dominance and victory. It held more than a minor resemblance to Optimus Prime once he filtered for the difference in cultural background.

"I can influence it if I try, but I haven't bothered yet," she told him. "It's been more informative when I let it build itself."

"What have you learned?" he asked her.

"I like loud music, going fast, fighting and rending things to shreds," she summed it up. "Fight hard, play harder, mix the two as often as possible."

"Show me the music," Soundwave ordered as he waved his cassettes off to explore the new mindscape and find what treasures had solidified in the last few days.

She smiled eagerly and transformed into her sleek, rounded hovercar mode. "Hope in," she opened the side in front to show a compartment. He transformed and dropped into the seat before she took off at speeds that would make the Seekers take note. Upside down, vertical, used buildings and the underside of the roads as often as the surface.

The music overlay pick up as her speed did, encouraging her acrobatics as she dropped from the bottom of one roadway onto the surface of another stories below. He heard as much as felt the pulse of her energy pick up.

By the time she finally skidded to a twisting stop in front of a brightly light and decorated facade she was all but vibrating with excitement, and only barely waited for Soundwave to get out before transforming to her robotic self in a flourish.

The club was filled with a deep, resonating drumbeat and a faster paced tempo on the keyboard and strings and the flash of colored spotlights sweeping around the dance floor. It was full of shadows, robotic mechs and femmes of her kind, but she didn't care. She wasn't there for the people, or the drink it was set up to serve. That was just atmosphere, a shadow in the background to make it a little more true to life. Even before they had entered, she was swaying to the beat, and now that they were enveloped by it she let herself go, moving on the impulse of the music and all but oblivious to anything else.

Soundwave studied the sounds, picking out what was memory and what was improvised before he walked to the stage and joined the shadow-bots playing there to take over the band. It was not lost on him that except for her quarters, every place she remembered well had sound as a central aspect, and three had music.

She was not founded on sound, as he was, but any mind so attuned to it was all but custom-made for his manipulation. He continued to modulate the music, picking up on subtle desires, violence and lust for power, and amplifying them, driving her into a frenzy she had no desire to resist.

* * *

"Lord Megatron," Ezara spoke with a low, cold tone that caught everyone in the control room by surprise, even more so that it carried no challenge despite the commanding personality behind it.

"Now _that_ is someone Megatron's going to want," Thundercracker smirked, enjoying the similar reactions of his wingmates to the idea of the alien and their leader together.

When Megatron looked over his shoulder at her new demeanor, his expression seemed to back up Thundercracker's assessment as he turned fully to face her. "I see Soundwave has made progress with you."

"A great deal," her smile almost mirrored his in cool satisfaction. "I have finished your new mace and shield, My Lord," she said and brought the mace forward. The ruby glittered in the artificial lights and pulsed with internal power as she offered it flat on both hands.

"Excellent," he nodded, taking it and considering the weapon. It was less convenient than his energy-flail, but it had other advantages, as he'd seen when she'd put Starscream on his tail with the quality of her weapon as much as her skill with it. "Good balance; you're familiar with this style of weapon," he said, as much as asked.

"Yes, My Lord," she all but purred at the praise. "They are a favorite in the arenas. Your shield," she slipped the large oval, nearly half her height, from her back and presented the absolutely vicious collection of spikes and blades to him before flipping it around to actually hand it over. "There are supplies on this world for several hundred, if you have any warriors who would use them well."

"Some," he chuckled lowly. "On this world, as well as on Cybertron. Of course, I imagine you'll be reluctant to arm the best of them. Starscream likely would have had you, had his weapon been a match for yours. If not, he'd have at least given you a far more even battle."

"If you wish me to make him a sword, I will make the best one I can," Ezara answered, though she didn't even try to hide how little the idea thrilled her. "It would have been a much more even fight if he had a matching weapon," she acknowledged.

"I would have beaten you handily if you couldn't have drained my sword," Starscream glared at her, and grew even more irritated when she ignored him.

"It would be a good idea. It will be an excellent surprise for the Autobots, and he'll be able to carry it into battle more easily than many of us."

"Yes, My Lord," she flicked her chin to the right. "Before I ask to borrow the Seekers, I would like to know what needs to be done before actively hunting my pursuer."

"How long would you be planning on spending on the hunt, at a given period?" He asked her.

"If he behaves as he always had, it should take less than a decacycle," she said evenly. "Once I make myself obvious, he will come to me, and right into the trap."

"I would like to hear your plan in its entirety, before committing our forces to it," he told her. "If you have it in mind, I'm willing to listen."

"There is a rocky badland not far inland," she began, bringing up the location for him on the main display. "It is the kind of location that is well-suited for a formal challenge. The two most effective weapons against him would be Starscream's nullifier when I'm close enough to strike while he's frozen, or your cannon at a high enough power to destroy him outright. Either way, I stand there, make myself a target, and wait for him to come while whoever is helping is at a distance, watching the battle to come, or me."

"What range does his weapon have? I would think he'd sight you and open fire before coming close enough to be hit," Megatron pointed out.

"Several kliks, and there is a possibility of it," she acknowledged without concern. "I do not believe he will open fire before hearing me out on a formal challenge announcement. If he attacks, he runs the risk of my escape, which I've proven very adept at. If he accepts the challenge, I won't run and he knows it. It's _his_ best chance at going home."

"Hmm ... I would want a backup plan, just in case," Megatron explained. "After we've filled Bay 7 with energon, we should have enough for a failsafe that will destroy him without unduly straining our reserves. Of course, it will be more than just Starscream as your backup."

"Good," she nodded, the first time she'd used their body language. "I have an idea for securing those reserves with very little danger to ourselves, if you would be willing to indulge me."

"Of course," he said easily, leaning back to listen. "I rarely pass on such an opportunity."

"The humans use a complicated, wide spread and large network of power lines to fuel their technology," she began, bringing up a map of the land near them with hundreds faintly glowing red dots. "It is inefficient and wasteful, and we can use that to our advantage. Many of these locations, substations and distribution nodes, do not have a regular human presence. By placing a low-draw energy drain on the isolated ones, we can fill energon cubes as they transmit their power."

"But that would take _forever_ to fill one cube!" Starscream objected.

"Between fifteen and eighteen decacycles, actually," she glanced at him briefly. "It is slow. However, with thousands of stations filling them, Earth would produce an avenge of 10,000 cubes a day by my calculations, which does include a loss rate to discovery, once the full network was established."

"Which would take how long?" Megatron asked her.

"Twenty to thirty nanocycles per station," she said. "It is simple enough to teach anyone with hands how to do."

"Interruption," Soundwave chimed in. "Necessary system, remote power access. Unavailable."

Ezara looked over at him, a scowl on her face for a lingering moment before she worked out what he was saying.

"You are correct, we would have to physically go to each station to retrieve the energon cubes," she responded. "It is still a relatively simple way to obtain energy until I can get with an engineer capable of taking what I know of the solar power array and making it practical for Cybertron."

"Prepare a list of locations for this plan, and an estimate of the total time to set it up," Megatron decided. "It may prove useful. I will see about acquiring an engineer for you to work with."

"Thank you, Lord Megatron," Ezara smiled and inclined her head. "I will present the full plan when all details have been determined," she said before turning to leave.

After the door had closed behind her, Starscream scowled.

"I don't trust her," he announced, surprising nobody.

"If you ever say you _do_ trust her, I'll throw you in the brig as an imposter," Megatron responded dryly. "Soundwave, how much is she exaggerating?"

"Deceitfulness: very low," he answered. "Likely effectiveness of plan: Moderate. Advice: consider plan. Additional observation: Concurrence with Starscream. She believes in the plan, her motives are her own."

"Her motives are clear to me," Megatron pointed out, chuckling inwardly at what he recognized as the closest Soundwave would come to jealousy. He expected it of Starscream. But from Soundwave, that was interesting. "You may have taught her too well, Soundwave." He stood up, deactivating the map. "I will return later."

He was sure he'd just set off a small maelstrom in the room when the door closed behind him. Between Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Ravage, every opinion possible was present, from attachment to hate to fear and no small amount of jealously on multiple grounds. It was entirely too amusing to see Starscream's scheming mind fully occupied with taking down someone else. It enabled him to truly appreciate just how manipulative and cleaver the Seeker could be. Just her ability to keep Starscream occupied was enough reason to keep her around. As long as Starscream was fixated elsewhere, he wasn't plotting to overthrow _him_.

It didn't take Megatron long to find her; she had gone exactly where he'd expected her to: the terminal in her quarters to begin preparing the information he'd requested.

"Lord Megatron," she greeted him when he opened the door with the deferential manner than came as naturally to her when addressing him as command did when she addressed the Seekers.

"There has not been a female in the Decepticon ranks since before I was created," Megatron cooed as he stepped up behind Ezara and slid his strong hands along rounded shoulders that belied the strength and will he was beginning to truly appreciate. "We were programmed to like it that way, to enjoy the company of other mechs as the norm."

"You aren't the first warrior to be like that," she said easily as she enjoyed his touch and tried to predict where this was going without bias, even while she knew she couldn't for her own desires and concerns.

Megatron pressed against her back as they stood there, his voice sultry in his own desire and how honest he could feel hers was. "But I knew this femme, back before the war. She showed me what I was missing by only being with mechs. I still remember how to make a femme feel very good."

"This is something I prefer ... private," she said, her voice as hungry as his as a slight tremor passed through her body.

"You never need to be alone again," he promised as he slid his arms around her to hug her from behind. "The door is locked. No one will disturb us."

"Thank you," she relaxed, giving no resistance as he guided her to her bed, still plush with Skywarp's gifts, and moaned when Megatron's first contact with her mind was a rush of pleasure.

"I have much more to offer you ... though I understand you prefer your pleasure mixed with other sensations," he observed as he entered her mind more fully and took a look around. Though he was standing in the center of her mind, where she preferred her pleasure, he could see through the walls to the worldscape beyond and a feeling of just how open she was to him. Only one area was locked, and it was the one Soundwave had said was still locked from her access.

No Decepticon was this open even after they were conquered fully, and this femme was _offering_ herself to him before he'd even touched her.

"Yes, My Lord," she formed, kneeling at his feet in her preferred bio form, her short, feathery-haired tail waving lightly against the floor behind her.

He took a moment to consider her mind, what parts of her cultural memories were easiest to find ... and he found something that suited him nicely. He shifted his form, adopting a biological form out of Lydrom's myths, as tall as his own body and heavily muscled, covered with thick, leathery skin and long, swept-back spikes along his back and horned head. Huge wings of black feathers and leather cast a shadow over her kneeling blue form.

Ezara looked up, curious at what he'd chosen, and her near-instinctive fear of the monster rang out clearly across her mindscape. Still, she didn't move.

Megatron could feel that she wasn't frozen, but controlling her physical form's reaction despite the howling storm outside.

He reached down, running powerful, clawed fingers along her cheek. "Well?" He rumbled in a deep, powerful voice. "What do you think?" He asked her, shifting to expose his flaccid maleness, already more than impressive.

It changed her reaction, her eyes fixed on it hungrily.

"The most powerful of Lydrom's monsters," she told him as the storm calmed quickly. "It ... suits you, really. You make it sexy."

"Excellent. Did you ever face one before?" He asked her, pulling her up to her feet, where she was still dwarfed by his huge body. Standing, she came right up to his groin, and it only fixated her more.

"Not for real, My Lord," she told him. "They are a myth, not real. Like my feral form."

"Well, this one is real," he chuckled lowly. "What do you think you'd like to do, meeting a legend in the flesh?"

"Much as I wish no matter the form you chose, My Lord," she rumbled and cupped one of his balls, large enough to fill her hand. "I would wish to be used, taken, for your pleasure, until I have nothing left to give."

"Get me hard then," he growled menacingly, his tail lashing behind him with flicks of flame.

She didn't hesitate in the least to shift to fondle both his balls while she ran her tongue around the tip of his dauntingly large penis, trying to stimulate him before she took it into her mouth and began to work for real.

Ezara had to stretch her jaw to the limit to take him, as he began to stiffen. A powerful hand closed on her head, and a shaft nearly as thick as her arm began to thrust in and out of her face, choking her every time it was forced back into her throat, making her gag as Megatron forced it back deeper, testing her limits.

It took effort, even in her own mind, to make it continue to work no matter his size. Yet even Megatron could feel how intensely this turned her on. It wasn't physically pleasurable, but it worked something deep in her psyche that was in ecstasy.

"You enjoy letting go like this," he rumbled, choking her on his cock for a few moments before pushing her back roughly. "I'm guessing you've been a whore more than once in the past, haven't you?" He picked her up by the scruff of her neck, holding her at eye-level and looking into her face. "And somebody went and took you away from all that."

"Probably, but I've fought for everything I've gotten," she told him. "No one's _given_ me anything."

"But deep down, you still want to be the street-bot, don't you? Scraping every last scrap of energy you get, whatever it takes... and whatever you have to reduce yourself to to get it." He turned her around, slamming her chest-first into the wall and pressing his chest against her back, his cock rubbing her legs.

"Yes," she grunted without a trace a shame or regret. "Made me strong enough to survive the rest."

"Let's see if it made you strong enough for this," he rumbled, starting to force his massive shaft up into her sex, savoring the tightness, and the way she practically melted in response to being used for his pleasure. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was the most pathetic of street-bots, not even worth enough to be an Autobot, much less a high-ranking Decepticon.

It was beyond delicious, as he roared and filled her to overflowing with his first orgasm, to have a powerful warrior, who had no ambitions to take his place, and truly, honestly got off on being used so completely by him. Even so, it surprised him slightly when he felt her trembling and whimpering from being so close to her ecstasy as she begged him to continue fucking her.

He kept pounding into her, enjoying the different feel of two bodies, rather than simply two minds. All the same, he began to exert his subtle pressure, expanding his control over her mindscape, and over her as well, intertwining their processes and his command over them, dominating her in the way that only two mechanical beings could.

As long as he kept clear of the one area of her mind that was still locked, even to her, he not only met no resistance, he felt welcomed. He was more than slightly amused when he encountered her punishment by Starscream, at how differently she responded

He accessed her memories, not bothering with permission, pulling up memories of a busy part of a large city, one where she'd enjoyed herself in the past, as he worked to drive her towards her own release.

* * *

Megatron shifted their location to outside a seedy club he'd pulled from her mind. It wasn't the type of place he'd been to in ages, and he was sure she hadn't been to since she'd started on the way up the ranks. He glanced at her, his pet for the time being. She was naked except for the collar attached to the leash in his hand, her body showing how well used she already was despite the fact that her tail with its odd feather-like hairs has tucked up between her legs to cover her sex.

He gave her a moment to assess where they were and what she looked like, and smiled privately when her only response was to look at him and step a little close to make a display of submissive affection.

He stepped inside with her, looking around to take in the type of clientele the club featured. While, to him, they were all mental constructs and nothing more, to her, they were a way of life left behind, people she'd known, behaviors she'd known. And here she was, being paraded in front of them stark naked, on the leash of a powerfully-built male who clearly felt he had every right to use her however he wished.

"Get me a drink," he ordered her, taking a seat casually, unhooking her leash so she could go.

He felt her brush against his mind as if they were physically here, and he provided what she was looking for with an intentionally careless thought before she walked off, doing her best to give him a good show, and the rest of the patrons the reason why she was with someone so obviously important.

She retrieved the drink, and he resisted the urge to have the bartender insist on payment up front. When she returned, he snapped the leash back in place even as she all but crawled into his lap.

"So - do you want a drink too?" He asked her with a sly grin and reached one arm around her to squeeze her breast.

"Yes, Master," she snuggled his neck affectionately.

He took a mouthful of his drink, swallowing some of it, giving the rest to her as he pressed his lips to hers.

"You know where to get the rest," he rumbled, reaching between them to unzip his pants. She required no further prompting and he could feel the tingle of a small thrill from her as she scooted back on the bench so she take his soft penis into her mouth and work him hard.

He didn't bother to hold back, turning to let her put on a show for the rest of the club until he let out a low grunt and filled her mouth with his seed, letting her pull back to swallow it down. He met the eye of one of the other guys, who seemed to be interested in her, and he smirked slightly.

"Go over and satisfy him," he ordered Ezara, nodding towards the military-looking Lydrom male. "Whatever he wants, as long as I can watch."

"Yes, Master," she said submissively, but there was the familiar tendril of eagerness and thrill as she moved off.

"Well now, handsome," a femme cooed from near his shoulder as Ezara was bent over a table and fucked hard. "It seems you need a new plaything."

Her robotic form mixed with the bios at an appropriate height with no apparent difficulty. He would have ignored her, but he hadn't created her, and that demanded his attention.

"I happen to be enjoying the show," he told her. "What do you have to offer me?" He asked her, taking her appearance in curiously.

"Something to enjoy during the show," she shifted her appearance to please him, even as he caught a look of Ezara's expression at the exchange.

"Mmm ... you know my pet," he pointed out, caressing her cheek as she adopted a more buxom, curvaceous form and slipped into his lap. "Or she knows you, I'd say."

"We both work for a living," the newcomer smiled at him, shifting to let him feel that she had nothing under her short skirt to get in the way of fucking her. "She thinks I'm stealing you, Handsome."

"And you enjoy her thinking that, don't you?" He chuckled, pressing his cock into her sex with a low rumble.

"I do find it amusing," she admitted with a moan as she began to ride him, working him with her body without getting in the way of his view of Ezara being fucked by another. "She may have learned the trade, but she's a terrible student of the rules. She's trouble, always had been, always will be. A thug trying to play lover."

"Mmm ... tell me more about her," he rumbled, nuzzling her neck lightly and running a hand down to stroke her sex through her skirt.

She moaned deeply in pleasure before answering. "Not much to say. She's got no pride in her job, it's just a means to an end. She'll never be more than a slut."

Another variable entered that Megatron hadn't created, and now he was reasonably sure that Ezara hadn't either, at least not consciously. The music of the club had a new beat to compete with from outside. It reminded him more than a little of the arena on Cybertron, and he could feel that she was drawn to it.

He finished quickly and shooed the newcomer away so he could stand.

"You want to go, don't you?" he lifted her face to look at him without stopping those taking advantage of her willing body. It didn't take any skill at all to see how difficult it was for her to keep her attention on him and not follow the militant sound. "You think you can fight, win, in there?" he raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I know I can," she barely breathed.

"I think it would amuse me to see you try, pet," he chuckled. He knew she could, that she had, but it wouldn't be suitable to let her in on that. He shifted their location, and felt a combination of her mind and something outside her mind finalize the setting, including putting them in their mechanical forms. It should have irritated him, but right now he was too interested by what was being presented to object.

"So you want to enter this street tramp in the fight?" the arena master looked at Megatron dubiously. "Far be it from be to dissuade you from wasting your money."

"It's mine to waste," Megatron played his role perfectly, the lines and knowledge coming to him almost as naturally as if they really were his idea and culture. Energy chips changed hands and they separated; Ezara to be prepared to fight, and he was shown to the seats where those with fighters sat. No one seemed to care that he wasn't one of their kind as he took his place among them to watch the fights.

These were shadows too, as was the rest of the audience. He could feel, almost see, that they weren't real, not even as memories. They were as much scenery as the stone and metal of the arena, and only about half as solid. One glance around and a group did stand out, in an arena of thousands of shadows, three were on a special platform apart from the crowd were absolutely real. The two femmes seemed to be memories, but the powerful mech with them had a mind of his own, and it was incredibly strong.

A Prime, he thought... or somebody much like one. Sentinel Prime had had much the same steel in him.

Why would he have done this ... or, more importantly, why would her owner have? It seemed that you needed a sponsor to be in here. Who had spent that sort of money? Had it been hers? It was possible, but the words had come so easily out of her mind that he thought they'd been spoken before, likely many times. A patron, perhaps. Somebody who'd wanted to see her beaten into submission, or somebody who'd arranged for her to be trained, planning to make a mint on the up-and-comer in the gambling?

The answers didn't seem forthcoming, even to his probes of her memories. Her mind was willing, but the jumble of information told him that what he was watching wasn't a single event, but a conglomeration fashioned to fit the circumstances from dozens of them.

As the warriors came out, nine mechs and three femmes, Megatron became acutely aware that the ranking mech in the stands above him had shifted his attention from the coming battle and his companions, to the Decepticon below. He didn't say anything, but his gaze was steady, somewhere between an invitation and a challenge.

Megatron made note of the path up there, and stood, walking over to meet him. This could be an interesting source of information... if nothing else, it would be good to see why there was another personality here.

"Another of your experiments?" The woman sitting next to him looked over Megatron haughtily.

"No, he's not mine," the mech chuckled. "Megatron is the work of another. Queen Vistra," he introduced her to Megatron. "My aid-de-camp Emirc Lyzen," he flicked his chin to the militant femme standing at his left side who was giving Megatron a serious eyeing to judge his worth as a warrior. "I am Toe'Emirc Rawlind."

"And I am Megatron, ruler of Cybertron," Megatron announced calmly, his full commander's bearing on display. "You wished to meet me, Toe'Emirc?"

"Given how she views you, it seemed prudent," Rawlind said. "Sit and watch the battles with me. You have been trying to dig up her past, I understand."

"At the moment, she is a good candidate to replace my current second in command on this world. It seemed prudent to learn what I could about her. You figure prominently in it, it seems," he pointed out, taking a seat easily.

"She _is_ mine," Rawlind said. "She doesn't look like much right now, does she?"

"Nothing worth thinking about," Megatron acknowledged. "She didn't seem to be much when I found her either."

Rawlind chuckled. "She's very good at that, even after she was promoted. It saved her servos more than once, being mistaken for nothing of importance. She is as fine a warrior and second in command as you'll find," he said before fixing his gaze on the battle that she was loosing badly and watching threw steepled fingers. "Strong, smart, a good tactical mind, survival instincts that few can match, absolutely savage, instinctively morally moldable to her surroundings ... all that's required to keep the loyalty you are already familiar with is to never let her believe you are an unfit leader."

"I have to prove that to my subordinates regularly," Megatron pointed out.

"Yes, I have noticed Starscream," Rawlind acknowledged. "That is not what I mean," he regarded Megatron evenly. "She _is_ stronger, faster, deadlier and more vicious than you are capable of. She's already capable of ripping you apart, body and mind, if the idea crossed her mind, and she is nowhere near full strength yet. For all that, she has little desire inherent in her to lead if she has someone in charge than does the job well."

"Which means, to her?" Megatron asked, trying to decide whether this stranger was trying to help him, or sabotage him.

"If I was trying to sabotage you, I'd simply stick the idea in her head to hate you," Rawlind chuckled softly. "She will listen to me, above all others. She'd even make nice with Starscream if I encouraged it, and she really does hate him a great deal. She simply hasn't worked out how acceptable it is to kill him yet.

"To keep her loyalty requires very little, Megatron. Energy, support against her enemies, indulging her savagery occasionally and her libido regularly, and no not loose many battles, if any. I did my best to civilize her with the time I had, but there will always be a bit of beast in her Spark. Letting her have that pretty black flyer of yours was a good move. She is quite the lustful creature, and she does find him enjoyable."

"Skywarp?" Megatron raised an eyebrow at him. "Pretty?"

"To us," Rawlind said with a faint smile as the scene below them shifted, becoming an eight-warrior free-for-all with Ezara, now with some upgrades and markings, gleefully in the middle of it in her feral form. "I suppose it's a matter of taste."

"As usual," Megatron granted, looking down at the battle. "Just how is it that your mind is so potent within hers?"

"It is our way," he said simply. "Bodies do not last forever, but if you can prepare a suitable host before that, you can join them when it happens. It is not quite the same as living, but it is far better than oblivion."

"She is one, My Lord," Emirc Lyzen half said and half asked her commander.

"Yes, she is," Rawlind flicked his chin to the right fractionally. "Her, and her opponent before last."

"Shall I remove them, My Lord?" she glanced at him, ready to step forward and leap to the arena floor to destroy her leader's enemies.

"Only him," Rawlind lifted his hand slightly to make his officer pause, and Megatron got a good look at her bewildered expression. "See that she is sold to the arena in Darimoc. The master there owes me a favor. Yes, Lyzen, I am doing things differently. Have your fun with the mech. The femme will be mine."

"Yes, My Lord," she flicked her chin up and saluted him with her right fist over her left shoulder before she turned and took the several-story leap onto the arena floor to incredible cheering from the crowd and evident fear from all the fighters except Ezara.

_She_ was looking at the Emirc with an eagerness that bordered on insane.

True to her orders, Lyzen ignored her. "Everyone but you off the field," she pointed to the mech that Rawlind had indicated.

"Was she aware that she is no match for your officer?" Megatron watched Ezara's irritated leaving with fascination. He could still see the street-bot she had been, but every movement brought the warrior she would become more to the fore.

"To a point, I expect she was," Rawlind said as Lyzen gave her opponent a fitting warrior's death, for all it was a horribly uneven contest. "At this stage she is too intoxicated with new power to fully grasp that she is still mortal."

"Power ... not energy?" Megatron focused on the Toe'Emirc.

"Yes, power, not energy," Rawlind flicked his chin up slightly. "There will be a hundred or so of them right now, those who have the potential to replace me. It will be some time before they can easily recognize each other, but having done it already, I know one when I see it. I intend to choose my successor, train them, mold them."

"Why not destroy them all?" Megatron had to ask. He knew he was missing something critical, but he couldn't place it.

"Because it is impossible," Rawlind chuckled. "I've run the calculations, reviewed history. There will always be a few who escape, and new ones are created to replace those who fall. No, that is what my predecessors did. I choose differently. My time would not be forever, but my legacy will be. That one, and I, will rewrite the rules of the war."

"What happened?" Megatron couldn't help but ask. Obviously _something_ hadn't gone according to plan.

"A variable I did not anticipate. She had to take my place before everything was in order, and a pretender tried to seize power. He has it too, for the time being. I do not anticipate his time to be much longer, now that she has found this world and the energy to rebuild herself fully."

"You created her then? Or merely trained her?" Megatron asked him. "And are there others here?"

"I trained her, prepared her for the role, whether she realized it in a given moment or not," Rawlind said. "There are nineteen of us in all, though most have settled into dormancy. Ezara and I are the most active."

"And are the others Toe'Emircs as well?" Megatron asked him, adding this information to what he knew. "Were you transferred to her with some device?"

"Yes, every one of us, from Delta Six to her," he nodded. "And no, it's not a device. If any of the early ones know how it works, they aren't telling. There is something in a few Sparks created every cyracycle. When a Toe'Emirc dies, everything we are transfers to the strongest of them. Until her, that would be the leader of the opposing military, the rebel army."

"I see... tell me. Can you reverse the transfer as well?" Megatron asked, considering his options. It would weaken Ezara, no doubt, but improve the quality of his troops a thousandfold if this would work. True military mechs would be so much easier to control, as well - it came built into them.

"Reverse it?" Rawlind looked at him like he'd lost his mind before he caught a tidbit that explained it enough. "No, it doesn't work like that, Megatron. We can't even control who we go to when the current host shuts down. We belong to the Toe'Emirc until the Tezita are no more."

"I meant transfer your minds to other bodies," he explained. "I can have new bodies built, powerful ones, but we require Sparks to give them life. Yours would be most welcome, and the bodies could be built to your specifications. An entire new galaxy would be ours for conquest."

Megatron knew he'd hit on exactly the right deal. He could see it in Rawlind's expression, even as well-controlled as it was. The longing. This Toe'Emirc may have accepted his fate, but it hadn't dampened his desire to _live_ any.

"I'll have to wake up Delta Six and Mitrix. If it can be done, they'd be who know how, and the odds," Rawlind said as he began to process the offer in his own peculiar way. "It is worthy of discussion if it is possible."

"I suggest you do so - there will be ample time to arrange it," Megatron told him with a low chuckle. "Just imagine what we could accomplish as allies."

"Then I recommend you finish with her, so I can convene a full council," Rawlind flicked his chin up.

"Of course," Megatron agreed, disengaging the connection as it seemed Ezara was more than happy to continue entertaining herself in her mind. He was aware of security locks being put into place as he withdrew, though he was not pushed out.

The presence of her predecessors did explain a great deal, on so many levels. If he could get them into new bodies, the war would be over with in decacycles. To have nineteen warriors of her caliber at his command! The universe would fall to him with little effort.

* * *

Skywarp kept around the corner to the door to Ezara's quarters, all too aware that Megatron was in there with her. He was sure his leader was in her head, enjoying the body she so willingly let be fucked by seemingly anyone. Ravage he'd challenge for her ... with Megatron, the best he could do was to be there when he left and hope he understood her better than the more powerful Decepticon ... and hope that Megatron wouldn't take her completely, by skill or order. She said she wasn't the exclusive type, that he was special to her, but she was also numbingly loyal to Megatron. Skywarp was sure that if Megatron ordered her to pleasure no one else, she'd do it.

He tensed when he heard the door open, then close, and a single set of footsteps walking away. He risked a peak around the corner and saw Megatron's back headed away and relaxed some. Still, he didn't move until Megatron was out of sight.

Skywarp paused just outside her door, gathering his nerve to knock and find out just how bad things were. When he did, nothing answered him at first, and it took nearly everything to knock a second time.

A mumbled response came, and he took it as good enough to enter.

He stepped into a scene much more tranquil than he expected. Her quarters looked very much like they had the last time he'd been in here, five decacycles ago just before she started working on Megatron's mace. Ezara was almost limp on her bed, tangled in the soft things he'd given her. Her computer terminal was still open to the electrical grid of North America.

"Sky," she murmured, setting his focus squarely on her again. "Wasn't expecting you so soon. He barely left."

"I waited," he admitted, sitting down on the bed. He hesitated a moment, all too aware of what Megatron's attentions could be like, and reached over to touch her shoulder.

The connection to her outer mind was instant, testifying to just how completely destroyed her mental shields were, but she still welcomed him as best she could with as distracted as she was.

"He really worked you over," Skywarp murmured, taking in that she didn't even create a mindscape for them to interact in at first.

"In a good way," she managed a weak smile. "At least not a bad way," she let her optics go off line to conserve energy while she sorted herself out enough to figure out what her actual status was. "Think he went through my whole mind."

"I'm not surprised," he spoke softly, keenly aware of what it had felt like when Megatron had last laid _his_ processors bare and really investigated what was going on. "He does that to all the new Decepticons. It helps keep traitors and double-agents out."

"It's also _incredibly_ intense," she all but cooed in remembered ecstasy.

"Do you still want me?" he couldn't help but ask, fearing that he'd never be able to give her the same kind of experience.

"Oh, Sky," she reached out in a cloud-like form to wrap around his presence in her mind with a warm tingle of pleasure. "Of course I do. You are still the one I want to stay with me. Megatron is intense, Ravage is savage, but you _feel_ good," she told him as she made the effort to form her crystal quarters and a solid form for him to hold. "Can you stay?" she asked even against the low rumble of a storm outside her quarters.

"For a while," he nodded and pulled her onto the bed. He kissed her neck and felt her respond enough to lift her face to kiss him back.

"Mmm, I don't have the energy to respond much, but...." she said before he cut her off with a hard kiss and pushed her to her back so he could climb on top of her.

"I think I can make that work," Skywarp grinned and pressed into her willing body. He was absently aware that as badly damaged as her shields were, he could access almost nothing, but it didn't concern him much as he took his pleasure in exchange for the energy she needed more than he did right now.


	11. Lydrom vs Cybertron

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: R for Violence  
_Codes_: Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Ezara presents her crystal weapon to Megatron, and gets her much-desired rematch with Starscream when Megatron decides to test it against a Cybertron sword.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 11: Lydrom vs Cybertron**

* * *

"Lord Megatron," Ezara spoke politely as she entered the main control room. "If I may have a moment."

"What is it?" He asked her, turning to face her from the map of Cybertron he was considering.

"I've built a weapon from back home. You may find it useful in combat," she said before removing a ruby crystal sword that pulsed with internal light from inside her leg. "These can kill with one hit, and very little can stop it."

"Really?" He asked, now clearly more interested in what she was saying than the map. She also now had the attention of everyone else in the room as well. "I see you used the rubies we identified early on ... how is such a brittle weapon so potent?"

"A combination of crystal shaping and their inherent energy. I can do this with any crystal, making it harder than your star cruiser's armor, but crystals that are all but solid energy such as the Burmese rubies create a much more deadly weapon that is capable of absorbing energy as well as discharging it. I can block a blaster bolt with it, though I have not tested it against the higher powered weapons, such as yours and Prime's."

"Starscream's nullifier?" Megatron raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't tried that either," she acknowledged.

"This would be a good opportunity to do just that, then," Megatron observed, causing his air commander to perk up. "And our other weapons. Starscream - you've got an opportunity to redeem yourself."

"It will be a pleasure," he grinned viciously as he formed his sword and stepped forward as she took a step away from Megatron and dropped into a fighting stance with her sword at the ready. "No one is better."

"Then come on, fly-bot," she grinned right back, as eager for the fight as Starscream. "Show me what you got."

He didn't bother to say anything, lunging for her with a blast from his thrusters, his energy-blade held so he could either attack or deflect her own blade, depending on what she did in response.

It wasn't lost on him that there wasn't a trace of fear in her anymore as she met his charge by bracing for impact, trusting her weapon to block his.

It did as she expected, but she was surprised when he twisted his blade immediately, clearing a path between them for his fist to slam into her, knocking her back.

He was better than she'd expected - and he fought like somebody who'd learned in an arena, not a fencing school.

The knowledge sent a thrill through her. This was her element, her soul, and she relished in the raw, untamed aggression she could turn loose as she recovered and dodged the next strike. Her sword danced in her hands; fast, light and deadly as it sung to her of energy spilled and the glory to come.

Block, parry, ever ready for his arena tactics as they worked around each other, the other Decepticons making room for them wherever they moved.

"Come on, Starscream. I can't show what mine's capable of if you don't try," Ezara taunted him as she blocked another solid blow. "Fight me."

"She's crazy," Thundercracker murmured as she drove Starscream into a fury.

"Like a fox-bot," Skywarp watched, all the more determined to keep her for himself. A lover as strong as she was would help him a great deal, when it came to surviving, and she was _far_ more pleasant to be with than any Decepticon on Earth.

"Tactics: successful," Soundwave commented. "Probable winner: Ezara."

"Shut up, you mindless recorder," Starscream snarled as he brought his sword down against hers with his full strength, wanting nothing more than to cleave her in half. It forced to her one knee with the impact, but did little to her weapon, or her confidence.

The way she smiled up at him penetrated his rage just enough to make him wonder what the hell she was smiling about until she suddenly twisted to the right. His sword slid down the edge of hers, driving into the floor before he could recover.

When Starscream found his balance again, he was suddenly on the defensive as she attacked. The first strike he blocked easily.

"Is that the best you have?" he sneered at her.

"Nope," Ezara grinned and attacked again.

He blocked her, though not quite as easily, and his optics widened slightly as he realized his sword was loosing power.

That did it. He wasn't going to lose to her again, not like this. He was the finest fencer Cybertron's arena had produced, and he'd never lost a duel to anybody but Megatron, not once he'd mastered his craft. If he'd had a physical blade, he'd have been her match, he was sure, but somehow she was able to drain this one - and his own reserves at the same time. She was toying with him.

Which meant _he_ was done playing. He twisted to the side as she thrust at him, parrying the blow and bringing his left side around. His nullifier flared, and he shot her squarely in the side, hoping it would work as well on her now as it had before.

Instinct brought her blade to block, and the ruby flared brightly, but she was still frozen by the negative energy that passed through her weapon.

With a single stroke, he sliced off her hand, the sword with it, then placed the blade at her throat as he kicked the weapon and appendage off to the side, ready for her to come around again. This time, he'd have her yield in the most humiliating way he could think of, and he had a few minutes to consider while she recovered enough to speak.

He was almost taken aback when her next move was to slam full-force into his mind, shattering the first layer of shields before he had time to realize what she was up to.

"I think it's time to settle this, Starscream," she called out to him, an open challenge by a fairly calm, calculating mind. "Defeat me in here and I am yours to command."

"Not willing to accept that I'm the better warrior in the real world?" He taunted her. "Fine then - come in here and see how you do." He could outlast her, if nothing else. He'd held off Megatron before, for a while... she wasn't as persistent as he was, or as likely to punish him simply for staying back. And besides - she would be losing power soon, unless she could reroute around her missing hand. That would be to his advantage as well.

"Given the only way you seem to be able to stand up to me is to freeze me, not really," Ezara chuckled. "Each time you use your nullifier, I learn a little more about it. Do you really think it'll help you forever?" she mockingly demanded as she appeared, her energy-form gleefully absorbing what she came in contact with.

"Seeing as the Autobots half-finished imitations seem to shut you down, I'm thinking it will help me long enough," he replied, his own energy-form appearing behind her as he began to segregate portions of his system, attempting to force her into a smaller battlefield.

"Nice trick," she complemented him, her energy flowing to encircle him, distract him with both pleasure and pain, and the whispers of ways to destroy his rivals.

"You've put a lot of thought into taking over here already, haven't you?" Starscream asked her, hearing the plans, sure that Soundwave was broadcasting this through his link with her. "I'm sure Megatron would be _fascinated_," he said, forming a blade of gleaming light and thrusting at her.

"When he looks, and I'm sure he will, he'll see exactly what I'm doing," she whispered, laughing at the light as she absorbed it. "Silly Starscream ... don't you understand? I'm Tezita warrior. A perfect survivor. Now ask yourself, what is the one thing no one can survive without?"

"Energy," he smirked. "But try surviving without your core systems," he added, sending a virus through the link his thrust had established to her own processors, the program running back to her body through their connection and running rampant through her circuitry, attacking whatever important programs it could find and recognize.

He recognized the fluctuation in power as she crushed it, and that some part of her attention didn't come back.

"Nice tactic," she cooed. "Too bad it's not going to help you much," she teased and fell silent to show him the full force of her will, and what made her such a good survivor.

He began rerouting power consumption and his defenses, reducing the damage she could do as he started to vary the frequencies of the power she was receiving, attempting to throw off her systems as they shifted to a straight-out battle of wills for the energy they had both brought to the battle. At the same time, the structures began to change subtly, beginning to resemble her own mindscape, crumbling as she drew more power from him.

He was honestly half surprised when she froze briefly, and even more surprised that it wasn't her active mind that caused it. It was only a momentary breather however, and when she attacked again, instead of the anger he'd expected, he felt a biting cold behind her attacks and an absolute lack of emotion. There was nothing to taunt anymore, almost like fighting Soundwave. It was unsettling, and more than a little creepy.

He shifted his goal, jumping to his energy form and arcing through the connection between them into her own mindscape, hoping to take her out of places where she could potentially damage his systems. As he'd hoped, she followed him, and he found himself on a blank plane outside her actual mind when her energy rushed home to attack.

It gave him time to reverse the connection. He pushed her away as he reformed his blade when he regained control of his body. With any luck, the damage he'd been able to do would turn the tide for him. If nothing else, he still had both of his hands.

"You really should have finished the fight when you had the chance," Ezara warned him when she found her feet, grabbed her sword by the blade in her good hand as she set the cut one back in place and tested the fingers as she dodged his first strike. Once she was sure it was good enough, she shifted her grip and launched a flurry of attacks. The first was against his nullifier, shattering it. With his best weapon against her out of the way, some blows drained energy from his sword, others sliced into his body and drained his reserves directly.

She wasn't even trying to defend herself beyond the most basic of moves. It just wasn't a concern anymore as Starscream found himself heavily on the defensive, his full focus on keeping her from draining any more of his energy by dodging as he tried to work out how to get out of this. Even when he hit her, she drained energy along with taking damage. His good blaster was useless against her, his sword worse than useless, he didn't dare grapple her and his nullifier was too damaged to fire. He _needed_ a physical weapon she couldn't use as a conductor, and there just wasn't one.

"Stop running, you damn coward," Ezara demanded in irritation as he dodged another blow. "Fight me! Fight like a warrior or surrender like one! Stop shaming your Lord and your soldiers!"

For the first time since he'd had the energy blade installed, Starscream wished he had an alloy blade he could use. Then she wouldn't be able to hurt him no matter what he did.

He took a desperate attempt to save some face from this, at least, twisting to thrust at her, taking a blow to his leg that he could have avoided otherwise. His own blade scored her sword arm, at least showing some measure of skill on his part.

To his abject horror she moved _into_ his blade as she twisted, taking a much deeper wound that she had to and slicing it into her torso as well. In exchange she got the time to move her blade to her off hand and drive it into his chest just to the left of the canopy before sending a powerful charge directly into his core circuitry.

The only thing that kept the wound from being _far_ more damaging than it was - and it still nearly brought him to his knees - was the work he'd already done to reroute his systems before. He hadn't had the time to undo that, and it routed her charge around the places where he was keeping his most important code.

If she did anything other than draw directly back, taking the weapon out the way it went it, he'd be hard-pressed to make it anything other than near-fatal. He was sure everyone, including his opponent, knew it too.

"Enough," Megatron announced. "Stand down, both of you," he commanded.

Starscream was only half-aware that all attention was on her, watching how she'd react to the order when he hadn't surrendered yet. History was not on his side. So much so that he nearly flinched when he felt her hand grab his shoulder firmly. She didn't make any other contact though, no attempt to enter his mind or drain him.

"Be very still," her tone was pure command, and she didn't wait for him acknowledge it one way or another before drawing her blade out with precise care to do no more damage than she'd already done.

She took one step back and let go, paying more attention to Starscream's ability to remain standing than to Megatron or the rest of the audience.

He deactivated his own blade, holding his hand over the wound and backing out, not taking his eyes from her as he made his way to the repair bay. She'd need to go there herself later, but not nearly as badly as he did.

Ezara turned to Megatron. "It does as well in combat as I hoped."

"Obviously," he agreed. "It would be interesting to see how it fares against Cybertronian steel, but that can wait for another time. Are swords all that you can create?"

"No, My Lord. I am confident with a mace, staff, dozens of polearms, trident, war-shield and small bladed armor parts. I can make a flail, but they are far more involved and difficult, and much more delicate to use."

"For now, construct a mace and a war-shield so that we can see it in use," he told her. "I may request a flail later, but the mace will suffice."

"I will begin as soon as I am repaired, Lord Megatron," she bowed slightly to him. "Both should be completed within twelve decacycles if there are no interruptions," she said before leaving.

"Starscream's going to be a nightmare if he ever gets his hands on a sword like that," Thundercracker observed. "If the two of 'em could stand each other, the Autobots wouldn't know what hit 'em." He very intentionally left out how sure he was that if the pair could stand each other, Megatron wouldn't know what hit him either.

"Yes," Megatron smiled secretively. "It will be a glorious battle when I turn the pair of them loose with her weapons."

"Has Starscream _ever_ taken a beating like that?" Skywarp asked, still trying to wrap his processors around what he'd witnessed.

"Not when he had a sword in his hands - which means he'll be working _us_ like dogs when he's out of repairs," Thundercracker pointed out. "Make sure you're well charged when it happens."

"Great," Skywarp groaned.

"She _your_ girlfriend," Thundercracker chided him. "Try keeping her happier and _we'll_ have less pain."

"Hey, this was Megatron's idea," he pointed out. "And Starscream's. Nothing to do about that one."

"This time," Thundercracker granted. "It's usually _her_ idea. If you settled her down, she wouldn't be ticking Screemer off so much."

"Which just means he'd be scheming instead, and you know how well _that_ usually works out for us," Skywarp pointed out, waving him off and leaving the room.


	12. Promoting A Decepticon

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: R for Violence  
_Codes_: Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: After a successful raid on Area 51, Starscream and Ezara have their rematch, steel against crystal, and Megatron learns just how far he can push his air commander before the retaliation becomes fatal.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 12: Promoting A Decepticon**

* * *

"That's our target," Ezara called out to the full Decepticon ranks as they flew over desert scrublands when an airstrip and small facility came into sensor range. "Try not to destroy any unusual vehicles while you're razing the place."

"Why are we even bothering with this pathetic human technology?" Starscream complained from his jet form as the radio warnings to avoid the area came through.

"Because of what _I_ can do with it, and not all of it's human," Ezara told him evenly, her tone brooking as much argument as Megatron's would.

"Please. If there was any Cybertronian technology on this world, we'd have discovered it by now!" He replied irritably. "At least _now_ we can have some fun," he observed as a string of military vehicles came out of cover and began firing on them. He released a missile, sending it for a platoon of small tanks.

"Is he _always_ this dense?" Ezara grumbled.

"Pretty much," Skywarp commented privately as he and Thundercracker joined in the bombing run, leaving Megatron, Soundwave and the Cassettes to strike the handful of buildings.

"Starscream: correct. Cybertron tech: absent," Soundwave said.

"I'm here and you really think your tech is the only kind worth stealing?" Ezara muttered and hit the ground in her vehicle mode to dart inside the main warehouse.

"Ravage, Laserbeak: Operation Find and Retrieve," Soundwave ordered as he ejected his cassettes. "Rumble, Frenzy: Operation, Annihilation."

Ravage and Rumble both dropped down to the ground as quickly as they could, Rumble dropping on top of a tank and shifting his arms into their jackhammer mode.

"Easier than crackin' an egg," he grinned, starting to hammer on the turret as Ravage cloaked and darted for an opening as another wave of tanks approached and several squadrons of fighters joined the battle overhead.

Inside the building Ravage followed Ezara's trail of blood and destruction as she worked her way to the levels below. He could sense that she was tracking something, but not what it was, or the trail she was following.

"What are you tracing?" He asked her silently, sending the message ahead while they had a straight line for the transmission.

"Something ... special," she told him. "Not of Earth, Cybertron or home. It's singing to be free."

"Frequency?" Ravage asked her, unable to detect it himself, but patching Soundwave into the information.

She tried to explain it to him, and finally resorted to passing it on. Ravage roared as the sound hit his mind like a sledgehammer from a free-spirited warrior found and held imprisoned. Desperate, furious, in pain and half insane.

He knew, distantly, that she heard it, understood it, but didn't feel it the way he did.

He managed to make a mental note of what frequency it was broadcasting it on, passed it on to Soundwave, and then shut himself off from it blissfully, shaking his head to straighten himself out as he kept following. She made an easy trail of broken humans and shattered walls for him, and when he caught up she was standing in bot form in front of something he vaguely recognized as a spacecraft not much larger than hers.

It didn't look like anything he knew, or Soundwave, as he passed the images along.

"What are you doing?" Ravage asked her.

"Scanning it, before I cut it loose. The humans were not meant to have it," she said with a rather distant tone in her voice.

"And can you be sure it won't attack us?" He transmitted, along with a warning to the Decepticons on the outside.

"Don't get it it's way, and it won't," she said with the kind of certainty that made Ravage both uneasy and accepting at the same time. "She wants to fly, far from here and fast, not fight. Much like I was when you found me."

Moments later, above ground, the desert sand began to shake, the vehicles that were there quivering as the ground responded to the blasts that were coming from beneath.

An object the size of a very large Transformer rocketed up, and went straight for the outer atmosphere. Behind it was a very similar one, but it flipped over and dove back down, unleashing a torrent of lasers into the gathered armies.

"What do you think of my jet form?" Ezara asked openly, though it was directed at Megatron and Skywarp.

"Impressive - a pity the other one escaped," Megatron mused, watching as Ezara tore the human forces to shreds with a glee that was rare even in Decepticons. "Soundwave - lead the salvage operations while we have the chance."

"Yes, Megatron," he responded, passing the orders on to his Cassettes.

* * *

"Starscream," Megatron caught his Air Commander's attention before any of the Decepticons could disperse and stopped everyone from moving. "Do you still have your steel?"

"Of course, Megatron," he scowled at his leader.

"Go get it. I will see how well you fair against Ezara," he ordered before looking at her. "Get your sword too."

"Yes, My Lord," she moved with an excited grace all her own and was gone before the Seeker.

"Timing: Unexpected," Soundwave asked in his own way.

"She's beaten him handily three times in three challenges. Now she can fly with the fastest of us. I have little reason to tolerate him anymore," Megatron smiled slightly. "At her worst she is far more loyal than he will be at his best, and now she is far more deadly in the only area he could claim superiority in."

"We'll see about that," Starscream scowled, hurrying to his quarters for his old sword. Once there, he carefully removed it from its case, unwrapping it with more care and affection than he'd shown any living thing in mitracycles. He tested the balance, making sure he hadn't lost his touch, the way he'd done regularly since their last duel. He'd been waiting for this.

She'd beaten him three times - the first of them by refusing to acknowledge when she was beaten, but Megatron seemed not to care for the distinction. Well then. If the name of the game was going to be honor and restraint only when they benefited that slut, he could handle that. He'd fought in rigged matches more than once before, usually stacked against him. Suicidal tactics, willing to risk anything to win ... he could match those as well, and better them, now that he knew she really was willing to do it.

This wasn't simply a battle for demonstration or position between themselves anymore. It wasn't for pride or bragging rights. This was a battle for the position that Starscream needed more than anything - the position closest to Megatron, best poised to take over the Decepticons and, by extension, all of Cybertron once the Autobots were defeated here. It was a battle he wouldn't lose, whatever the price.

He returned to the hangar, blade in hand, and found everyone gathered, including his opponent. Her ruby blade glittered in the light from above and glowed with power from within. She stood with the confidence of one who didn't believe they could be beaten and had experience to back that opinion up, and was talking to Megatron. No doubt about her new role among the Decepticons.

At least if she had her way. He stepped into the middle of the room, raising his metallic blade.

"I am ready, Lord Megatron," he announced.

"Good," Megatron nodded, then glanced at Ezara to join him in the middle of the hanger while the other Decepticons gave them plenty of room. "Sword against sword. No transforming, no special abilities, no cyber-battle. Understood?"

"Yes, My Lord," Ezara flicked her chin up, though she looked less than thrilled by the list of restrictions.

"Of course," Starscream agreed, removing his Nullifier and setting it to the side. "Just so there can be no accusations that I cheated," he told her, getting into a fighting stance and watched her drop into hers. He knew better than to underestimate her now, and he had to wonder about Megatron's motives. The rules, assuming she obeyed them, would hinder her more than him. His nullifier was his best weapon, but this was her weakest form and her will couldn't help her.

Ezara moved first, taking advantage of her greater speed to close the distance between them and strike.

He blocked her blow, crystal and metal ringing as he deflected her attack and responded with one of his own, slashing at her arm only to find it parried as she ducked and moved forward, trying to get behind him.

He spun around along with her, his blade back in the way as he parried her own blow and twisted into the momentum to try clocking her with the hilt of his blade. There was a satisfying crunch of metal on metal when he made contact with enough force to knock her off balance and back a bit, her jaw broken inward.

He pressed the attack, stabbing at her, using a flurry of short thrusts and slashes to try keeping her off-balance and on the defensive.

Much to his annoyance, she'd have none of it. One step forward and she accepted the damage of his sword threw her off arm to put herself right up against him. With her blade horizontal with the ground she drove it forward, right into his throat.

He twisted aside before she could discharge into him, or just take his head clean off, ripped the sword free before he twisted his own up to draw a line of shredded circuits and wires up her arm, channeling power through it the whole way before he kicked her back to clear some distance between them. He knew he'd be bleeding energon, but he could see that she was.

Ezara bounced off the wall and caught herself before she stumbled. Energy cracked around her damaged arm, hanging useless at her side and oozing glowing pink energon. It didn't seem to make much of an impression on her, because she was closing the distance between them the moment she found her balance.

He shifted to a two-handed grip, stepping to the side as she charged him and bringing his blade up in a two-handed slide that he'd carved more than one opponent in half with in the past.

Without missing a stride, Ezara shifted her balance forward, drove her sword into the floor and swung around it, taking Starscream off his feet as she swept around, anchored by her blade. She twisted, getting her feet on the ground and swung her sword up, driving it down with a slash that could have easily cleaved Starscream in two if the Seeker hadn't managed to roll out of the way.

He spun to his front, slicing at her with his blade. There was a satisfying screech and crush of metal before she got out of the way. When he got to his feet, she was standing in a defensive posture, favoring her left leg.

He pressed the attack, forcing her to keep moving towards the foot he'd damaged, doing his best to press his advantage hard and do as much extra damage as he could. She wasn't making it easy. Even without draining him or her other tricks, he grudgingly had to admit she was a fine swordsbot. Not his equal, never that good, but she knew how to handle a blade and an opponent.

This time he saw it coming, her first real mistake in any of their battles. She stepped into his attack, ready to accept the full force blow to get up close to him. He was sure he was to drive her sword into his chest again.

Without so much as a flicker of hesitation, Starscream threw his weight behind his strike and twisted the blade on impact. It would do less damage, but it would knock her to the ground and get him out of the way of that damn sword of hers before she could drive it through his Spark chamber.

He attacked again, driving her to the ground. Before she could do much more than try to recover her bearings, he drove his blade through her torso, pinning her to the ground with a discharge of power to warn her that he was capable of doing far worse damage to her if he wanted to.

"Surrender!" he snarled down at her.

They faced each other for a critical fraction of a trillocycle; one calculating the odds of various actions, the other preparing to counter them.

When she began to roll, willingly forcing his sword threw her own body, he was prepared for it.

He moved with her, exacerbating the wound and dodging the blow that she directed at him.

Fine. If she wouldn't surrender, he wouldn't grant quarter unless he had to. Her crystal blade whistling through the air inches away from him, he retaliated, knocking her blade out of the way and continuing past her, landing a shallow cut that leaked energy, sending a spark of pain shooting through her circuits.

Another blow, and another, each opening a small wound or blocking her attempts to turn the tables. He could _feel_ Skywarp's dismay at the scene - he knew the lower Seeker had seen this dozens of times in Cybertron's arenas. Once the fight had reached this point, it almost always ended the same way. Starscream could dodge and parry long enough for leaking wounds to end the battle for him, and it was agonizing on more than a physical level for the loser.

Everyone knew it was over in the same moment when she crumpled to the floor and stopped moving, stopped struggling.

He knew that Megatron would call the battle over shortly - anything to preserve his new plaything. He was tempted to destroy her while he had the chance, but he knew that could be seen as a sign of fear on his part. Fear that she _could_ take his place, if given another chance. Fear that she would retaliate for this defeat, and that he had to worry about it. Fear of _her_, the same reason that he was sure Megatron had never dared to destroy _him_. Sometimes, showing 'mercy' was the only show of strength that would suffice.

He didn't bother to demand her surrender again. Didn't bother to attack her. He simply stood back and swept his sword clean of the trails of energon and scrap metal along its length, the liquid energy sparkling as it hit the floor.

"It's over," he told her simply, giving her the chance to acknowledge it.

He wasn't entirely sure what he expected. He half hoped she'd give him an excuse to destroy her by attacking in a way that broke the rules of the match. But the look in her optics, her expression, even as it gave a bit of a puff to his pride, was strange too.

Respect.

Actual, honest respect.

His own Seekers didn't look at him like that.

"I yield," Ezara said evenly, despite how weak her voice was. "Victory to Starscream."

"There - I hope _that_ puts an end to this talk of 'replacing' me as Flight Commander," he said, mostly to her.

"That was never her choice to make," Megatron smiled darkly even as he motioned to Skywarp to take her limp form away for repairs. "You serve at _my_ pleasure."

"And I have just demonstrated, once again, that I _am_ the best warrior you have," Starscream pointed out evenly, turning to face Megatron while Ravage lapped up the spilled energon from the floor. "Short of yourself, of course."

"Of course," Megatron smirked slightly. "Yes, you did just prove that you are better than a street thug with less than ten kistacycles experience in the arena. But better than her when she has not been denied the bulk of her skill; that you have not done."

"By _your_ command," Starscream pointed out. "I'll be glad to prove I can best her on any level, both given our best skills."

"I am sure," Megatron chuckled. "I am still replacing you. She _is_ the better warrior, and far more obedient than you will ever be."

"She's not even a true Decepticon!" Starscream snarled, stepping forward and trying to fight the urge to react more violently.

"She is what I say she is, Starscream," Megatron's tone dropped to a warning level that made everyone else make sure they were well clear of both of them. "Just as _you_ are what I say you are."

"_You_ are being a lust-addled fool, Megatron," Starscream told him bluntly.

"Starscream," Megatron growled and raised his cannon.

"All of you! Just because she's the first female to consider the Decepticons - and that only because she thinks she can use us...."

The pulse of a black hole's power erupted, cutting off the Seeker's rant with a hit square to his chest that sent Starscream to the floor, writhing in pain and shocked to be alive.

"Shut up," Megatron finished and walked out, leaving Starscream's fate in the hands of Thundercracker and Soundwave.


	13. Seeking a Answers

_Fandom_: Transformers G1 season 1 + The Ultimate Guide  
_Pairing_: Skywarp/Ezara  
_Rating_: R for Violence  
_Codes_: Het  
_Writers_: Rauhnee Ranshanka, Karl Wolfemann and Otter Foxfire

_Summary_: Starscream does his best to lure Ezara to his side, only her loyalty makes her ask Megatron about it instead. Then with Starscream fresh out from the repair bay, Ezara has her first mission as Air Commander and life goes to hell for Starscream.

* * *

**Wanderer's Home 13: Seeking a Answers**

* * *

Starscream's mind was racing by the time Thundercracker put him on the repair table, one right across from Ezara. So he'd live, and so would she ... but how much of what Megatron had said was to piss him off, and how much really was the truth?

Normally he wouldn't care, but that look she gave him when she admitted defeat ... it was wrong in so many ways if she was really gunning for his position.

_Was_ this promotion solely Megatron's idea? Something to keep her close, encourage her to stay, to be with him?

Maybe it was time to try a different track with her, find out what was really going on inside those alien processors. On the plus side, what she seemed to respond best to was easy enough to fake interested in, even if it wasn't really his preference.

"Why'd you look at me like that, when you surrendered?" Starscream asked when they were alone.

"Because you earned it," she told him, her pain numbed by damage-response programming. "You're _good_."

"I'm the best," he said with no small amount of pride. "I won't let you replace me," he told her bluntly. "Not as Air Commander, and not with Megatron."

"I doubt that's your choice," Ezara pointed out. "Lord Megatron...."

"Is a fool," Starscream snarled in anger and pain as he was repaired.

"He is your _Lord_," Ezara growled back. "He can beat you to submission. Give that some respect."

"Have you _seen_ his idea of tactics?" Starscream changed tracks. "He could have had Cybertron to himself, but because he's obsessed with defeating Prime, he abandoned the world he'd won and chased him down! Is that the act of a sensible leader?"

"Leaving the enemy leader alive to raise an army again, and spark rebellion ... he has to be killed," Ezara turned her head to look at Starscream. "He won the war, but may not have won the next one with Prime still alive."

"The enemy leader who was _already_ flying off to his death!" Starscream pointed out. "And he routinely risks _all_ our lives to continue this farce of a 'war.' We could have been back on Cybertron already, collecting forces to return and _conquer_ this world, but he's content to conduct a war with a handful of soldiers, three of whom are the same one, despite being grossly outnumbered!"

He knew he'd made his point, and she was _thinking_ about it. That couldn't be good for Megatron.

"What about the energy Cybertron needs so desperately?" she finally asked.

"You know already that there are other ways around that," he told her. "Cybertron has its own solar collectors, and they can be repaired - the biggest problem right now is war damage, not excess consumption. How could the world create the point where it can't support itself? Megatron just won't admit the damage his own war did. A _smart_ leader, particularly with your technology, could see Cybertron restored in a kistacycle, _if_ he had the Decepticons behind him. From there, the rest of the galaxy would be at our mercy."

"How many Decepticons are still on Cybertron?" she asked, turning it over in her mind. "Why haven't they fixed the damage on a world they control?"

"Guidance, and perfectionism," Starscream explained quietly. "Without Megatron to lead them, Shockwave is his replacement. Shockwave does very little without Megatron's approval - and, worse, he's an insufferable perfectionist. He'd rather have the world shut down while it repairs _itself_ than risk somebody being a micron off in their repairs. And without Megatron to tell him otherwise, he does so without a thought."

"Who is _his_ replacement?" she asked, going over various options of her own design.

"Likely Soundwave, though it hasn't come up," Starscream said with a slight shrug as it sunk in just how strong her inherent resistance to overthrowing Megatron was. "However - a new leader could _choose_ a new replacement, or even just take us back and rule over Cybertron properly, in person. Or two new leaders, potentially," he added. "You _do_ have a good mind, and are quite a warrior. If we were to work together, instead of letting Megatron pit us against each other, we could instigate a new Golden Age under Decepticon rule."

Progress. There was definite progress. Just that fact made it all the more likely that replacing him wasn't entirely her idea, which was both a good and bad thing. It made her less dangerous to him, but it also made Megatron far more dangerous.

"I'll think about it," Ezara said before turning her attention inward and letting the repair bots do their job, and Starscream stew over what was happening.

* * *

"Lord Megatron, I would discuss war-strategy with you, if you have time," Ezara said when he allowed her into his quarters.

"What is it?" He asked her, turning to face her, looking her over. "Your repairs have gone well," he said approvingly and motioned her to sit on his bed.

"Yes, My Lord," she nodded and sat down, almost unconsciously posing for him. "If I remember correctly, you know I have twenty mitracycles of tactical, war and peacetime experience rattling around in my memory banks from nearly as many leaders."

"Of course," he nodded easily, waiting for her to go on. "Have they contacted you?"

"Yes, and with a few ... odd questions for me to ask," she said, just a bit uneasily. "Why Starscream is still functional. Why Cybertron has not been repaired. What is the war plan, in the big picture."

"Why Starscream is functional this time, or in general?" Megatron asked her evenly.

"In general, My Lord," she clarified. "I don't know what he did this time, but anyone that ... conniving and ambitious ... it seems a bad idea to tolerate."

"It is a worse idea to squander," Megatron explained. "He is good at his duties - very good, though not as good as you will be. I _could_ destroy him - but doing so would send the wrong message. Yes, it would say that anybody who tries to usurp my position would be destroyed if I caught them. But it would also say that I believe he _could_ usurp my position. If his efforts ever become sufficiently worrisome, he will be dealt with. Until then... I have nothing to fear from him, in the long-term."

Ezara flicked her chin up, accepting the statement and its logic even as she struggled to correlate it to her own very different standards. "And Cybertron? You have controlled it for a long time, mitracycles, as we understand. Yet it barely survives."

"The time we've controlled it was largely spent with myself and the others trapped in stasis on this rock," Megatron brushed off the concern. "Shockwave handles the issues of running Cybertron in my absence, and he tolerates no mistakes. Once Prime and his Autobots have been dealt with, we will return and I will take my rightful place."

"Why not bring a larger force to Earth, to end the war quickly?" she asked. "The space bridge could make short work of their absence."

"You've been talking to Starscream, having you?" He observed disapprovingly. "The space bridge is a risky technology - it can malfunction very easily. Right now, it's still undergoing repairs from the last time we sent a shipment through."

"He was talking at me when we were being repaired, My Lord," she dropped her gaze submissively. "I don't trust him, but the accusations demand answers I didn't have."

"And are you satisfied?" He asked her. At least she wasn't taking Starscream's statements at face-value. He shouldn't have been surprised, really. As long as she didn't fully believe him, this wasn't too great a chink in her armor.

"Yes, My Lord," she nodded, then flicked her chin to up and right. "Do you still wish me to lead the Seekers as Air Commander?"

"Of course - you're still a better commander than Starscream will ever be, whatever he might think," he pointed out. "Don't let him convince you otherwise. By the way... can you communicate with the others inside you?"

"Rawlind is usually awake, the others take more effort," she tried to explain. "I have spoken to most at least once."

"Understood. Let me know if there is any answer from them about my questions. Is there anything more?"

"What is the campaign plan, My Lord?" she asked politely. "I should know so I can work within it."

"In the long-term, strip this planet of its resources as best we can, while building to attack Prime and the others. Eventually, I have plans for making it easier to bring troops from Cybertron, but that will take a great deal of preparation. I also want to be on the lookout for additional Cybertronian life forms here... I have my suspicions."

Ezara assessed that, taking a lingering moment to process it.

Megatron was sure she wasn't the only one reviewing it. He was sure he saw it when one of the others prodded her with a question.

"Would you detail the plans you have for us?" she looked up at him, emboldened by the others and with a determined expression.

"Certainly," Megatron agreed, bringing the maps up to lay out several missions.

* * *

"All Decepticons to the main bridge," Megatron ordered over the star cruiser's comm system.

"His timing sucks," Skywarp grumbled as he withdrew from Ezara's mindscape, their mating only half finished.

"We'll have time later," she told him, her tone matching his displeasure. "I'm as eager to anger him as you are," she added with a caress to his face and affectionate thought before they left her quarters to join the others assembling at their leader's demand.

When Starscream joined them, everyone, overtly or covertly, checked out his reaction to seeing her there, trying to judge how volatile he'd be today. Despite the glare he sent Ezara's way, and that she didn't respond, he seemed to be in an amiable enough mood.

"A new source of energy has erupted north of St. Petersburg," Megatron told them, the location blinking bright red on the map of Earth. "It is rich enough to supply all our needs. It is also well-protected for a target on Earth."

"That doesn't mean much," Starscream sneered.

"It will be a good testing ground for Ezara's skills as my Air Commander," Megatron smiled slightly at the ripple his statement caused among the Seekers. He'd said it before, but now it was sinking in for all of them that their ranks were being shaken up and their leader replaced.

Starscream was furious, of course. Thundercracker looked disgusted and just a bit concerned. Skywarp was fluctuating between excited and worried, no doubt anticipating both trouble and benefits from the fact that the new Air Commander was decidedly fond of him. Ezara ... his deadly alien ... she didn't seem to care.

"What are the odds?" She asked, absolutely focused on the mission.

"Nothing we can't handle easily," Megatron said smoothly even as he brought up the technical specs.

"Five hundred to one within the first twelve cycles in the air," she murmured, processing a hundred tactical possibilities every trillocycle. "It will be a glorious battle."

"A short one as well, by most odds," Starscream observed. "If it takes us twelve cycles against _those_ there's a problem."

"It will take _them_ twelve cycles to muster that force," Ezara corrected him. "The immediately available force is much smaller."

"What would _you_ do for this mission?" Megatron asked Ezara to everyone's surprise, until they saw the calculating expression on his face and realized it was a test.

Ezara barely glanced at him before turning her full attention to the data she had, running tens of thousands of tactical calculations and scenarios before she spoke. "Is the goal to permanently control the area, or to raid for the most energy we can before leaving without losses when the Autobots arrive, Lord Megatron?"

"As much as we can. We cannot currently spare the troops for a garrison," he pointed out.

She nodded slightly, running a final few scenarios. "It is isolated with a poor infrastructure, for all it has a substantial military presence. I would have Soundwave maintain false communications with the outside to delay discovery. Laserbeak, Skywarp and I patrol under the radar. Ravage patrols the only road into the area. Rumble, Frenzy and Squawkbox fill and load energon cubes into Thundercracker. When his bay is full, the he will transport them to base where Reflector will unload them. While Thundercracker is away, a Starscream will be loaded. If the that does not have a Seeker on the ground being loaded at all times, Skywarp will join the rotation."

"Why am _I_ playing taxi while _he_ flies with you?" Starscream suddenly demanded, taking a step forward in threat.

"Because he knows how to fight on my wing," she said simply.

"Estimated yield?" Megatron asked her, privately smirking at Starscream's obvious irritating at being relegated to a taxi and how smoothly she brushed away his demand with a fact he couldn't argue about.

"If the readings are correct, it should produce fifty cubes per cycle," she decided. "We should be able to maintain the cover for at least several decacycles, possibly as long as a tekacycle."

"Will there be a need for a secondary base, to properly exploit this energy source?"

"I do not believe so, My Lord," she flicked her chin to the left. "The flight is not long at full speed for a Seeker, even fully loaded."

"And when discovery does occur, what is your plan?" He asked her.

"If our intent is to escape with as much energy and little damage as possible," she looked directly at him. "We fight while it is just humans and retreat when the Autobots arrive. Leave the site intact for a second raid when they no longer believe we will try again."

"And if the goal is to collect as much energy as possible, and do damage to the Autobots when they arrive?" He asked her, seeing how quickly she could adjust to a new goal.

"Put Rumble on implementing traps around the facility as long as we have it," she decided without any pause at all. "Soundwave has a good processor for designing them. I would also have him rig the facility to blow remotely, so we can set it off while they are still there, believing they have chased us off."

"Use that plan," Megatron decided. "Make final preparations. We'll leave as soon as you are ready."

"Yes, My Lord," she nodded. "Soundwave, have Laserbeak begin recording the voices of those who send transmissions from the facility and the dialect they use so you can duplicate it believably. Have your other cassettes ensure the storage bays are ready for the energon cubes. I want you to have the traps planned before we arrive.

"Starscream, get Laserbeak into position. Determine at least the six routes for speed and lack of resistance while you are out. We should take the same route as little as possible.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, you're with me," Ezara ordered as she walked to the lift. "We're going to make a some trouble so the Autobots are not looking for Starscream. If you would join us, it would make a better distraction, My Lord," she said far more politely to Megatron.

"How is _that_ going to keep them from looking for me?" Starscream demanded, trying his best to discredit her idea. "They'll know I'm not with you."

"Actually, they shouldn't," she told him with a slight smile. "I fooled the Autobots as one of their own long enough to get close to Prime. I think I can fool them at speed from the air as you."

* * *

"Prime, we've got Decepticon activity!" Ironhide called out. "It's Megacrud and his flying flunkies. They just blasted Cougar Dam in Oregon and are headed for Hoover Dam. We've gotta stop 'em!"

"Damage to the dam?" Prime asked as he stood. "If they have repairs under control, we'll head for Hoover Dam. Otherwise, Ratchet, Caurun, Wheeljack, Hauler, Huffer - head for Oregon to help with repairs."

"It's anything but under control," Ironhide said grimly. "They blew out the entire thing."

"On our way, Prime," Ratchet and Wheeljack said.

"Right," Caurun said with less enthusiasm and transformed into his hovertank mode to follow the pair out.

"The rest of you, with me - transform and roll out," Prime ordered, shifting form and heading out for an all-too difficult race to Hoover Dam.

"Seems like we're gettin' a helpin' hand from the Air Force," Jazz spoke up part way there. "They don't stand a chance, but they'll slow 'em down."

"Hopefully we'll be there before they've been taken down - transmit to let them know we're on the way," Prime told him.

"Done, Prime," he responded as everyone put a little more speed to reach Hoover Dam. It was still a painfully long time before they caught sight of the USAF fighters above them in a deadly game of dodge and tag with Megatron, Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp.

"The cavalry's arrived!" Ironhide announced, transforming at speed and opening fire on the Decepticons, trying to hit Megatron in the back while they had some element of surprise.

"What the...." the old warrior stammered in shock to see Starscream break away from air-to-air combat and hit his afterburners to make the distance in time to take the hit for Megatron.

The red and white jet dropped sharply before he recovered and leveled out, then dove again, targeting Optimus Prime and the gathered Autobots with a missile barrage as he called out to his Seekers to do the same.

The entire group had changed now, and dove out of the blast zone before returning fire on the Seekers.

"Keep them away from the dam," Prime told them, firing at Megatron again to keep him from taking advantage of the confusion. Starscream's behavior tickled the back of his processors as out of character, but as long as the Decepticons were fighting, it was a distant second concern.

"Decepticons, fall back!" Megatron ordered, bringing all three Seekers out of their battles to follow him towards the coast.

"Prime, was it just me or was that just weird?" Jazz asked. "Starscream takin' a hit for Megatron? Way odd."

"Very unusual," Prime agreed. "When we get back, we'll have Teletraan-1 scan for reports of other activity - that might not have been Starscream, especially the way they pulled back so quickly."

* * *

"Glorified taxi cab," Starscream muttered as he dropped Laserbeak. "Oh, and of course, map system," he grumbled, starting to analyze the options for his first approach route. Despite the grumbling, he recognized both the nature of the test and its probable outcomes. He'd done this too, when he had a new Decepticon to get a feel for. It would tell her how well he followed orders, how well he could implement those orders unsupervised, how independent he was, the quality of his intel and planning.

In short, everything she'd need to know to use him to best effect. She really was planning to keep _his_ position. He couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't take the fall for this mission failing either.

He was deep in plans when he picked up several blips approaching on his radar.

"Maybe I can have a _little_ fun, at least," he mused as they sent him a message he couldn't make sense of. All the same, the tone was clear enough - they were _not_ happy with him. Fair enough - he wasn't happy with them either. Or with anything else out here.

"Come on, you little worms. Give me _something_ to enjoy today," he flipped on his tail to face the approaching fighters. At least that rust-bitten femme hadn't said anything about not responding to a challenge if he was detected.

"American, you are in restricted Soviet airspace. You will follow us to land or be shot down," he was hailed again.

"Follow this!" he replied, opening fire with his blasters on the leader of the wing.

The next several transmissions were gibberish again, but the shock and anger was delightful as the Soviet jets tried to catch him in a cross-fire while staying out of his sights.

Even if they had the ability to outmaneuver him like that, it wouldn't have mattered - their weapons were nothing like his. He launched his missiles, exulting in his superiority over his attackers, blasters and rockets both firing at full speed and power. Jet after jet went down in flames, before a rocket salvo from below caught his attention.

Damn it all. They'd lured him into SAM range.

He raised his altitude with full afterburners, only just keeping ahead of the SAMs until they expended their fuel, all while he searching for the launch site. With his targets found, he dropped his nose for a strafing run on the missile silos. More Soviet MiG-23, MiG-25 and MiG-29s and arrived above him, opening fire with missiles and guns while more SAMs fired from below.

Starscream maneuvered briefly in his jet form, using missiles from both sources to blow each other out of the sky. When he had a little space, he transformed into his mech form, turning and firing on the MiG's as he dropped in closer to the launchers, down to heights that he knew neither could maneuver at.

Humans on the ground scattered as he blew SAM batteries away and returned fire on the MiGs now doing bombing and strafing runs on him. Even though very little got through, the explosives hurt when they did hit.

Before long, he felt he'd put in a good enough showing. Shifting back to his jet form, he took off at speed, dropping missiles to attack the ones who were trailing after him.

This was turning into one of the worst days of his life in a hurry.

* * *

Megatron hung back, trying to conceal his amusement at watching the others respond to the raw fury stalking the control room in the form of his new Air Commander. He had some doubts she had the temper in her to instill the fear needed to control the Seekers, but that doubt was squashed by the impressive ranting when she found out that Starscream had not only been detected, but had shown himself to be a Transformer.

Of course, judging by the transmissions he could pick up, Starscream wasn't in much of a better mood. As far as he was concerned, he'd practically been set up.

"Starscream approaches," Soundwave announced. "Laserbeak is continuing surveillance."

"Good," Ezara all but growled and stalked to the lift before it was raised. When she reached the top, she could see that he was there, and rapidly approaching. She could feel his anger and disapproval when he transmitted to her.

"You sent me into a war zone," he told her bluntly as she launched and transformed into her jet form. "One where I _happen_ to look like the enemy."

"You were detected," she snarled in utter fury. "I give you a _simple_ mission and now the Autobots know where we'll strike. You can fight, but you don't _think_," she roared at him and opened fire, burning long gashes into his wings before he flipped out of the way.

"And what good would it do us to be there if _every_ Seeker gets attacked as a matter of course?" He demanded, firing back as he maneuvered around her. "None of us are radar invisible, and all of us have a form the humans there attack on sight!"

The silence as she flipped on her tail faster than he could made him hope he'd made a point, right up to the point when her base form slammed into him from above and drove him down hard, right into the platform that would take them down.

He'd barely gotten half transformed to base when she had him by the left arm and throat against the wall. It was only then, when she slammed into his mind with all the subtly of Megatron, that it registered that she wasn't angry because things had gone wrong.

She was furious because she'd _wanted_ to believe in his ability and judgment.

"I don't care why you didn't know that already," she growled directly to his mind as she went through everything that had happened, reviewing it and giving commentary on tactics and choices like he was some raw recruit. "But next time when I make a point of _covering_ for your presence, _do not transform. Do not fight._ If you're seen, _get out._"

He returned the mental attack, with all the power he'd reserved and held back every time Megatron had attacked him this way. He saw the events of the battle, and couldn't help but laugh mentally despite the pain.

"They knew it wasn't me before you were out!" He told her. "You broke your own cover!" He added.

"I was told," she kicked him out of her mind, nearly ripping his Spark from his body as she overcompensated a little too much. "If _you_ hadn't transformed, they would not know where. I could have been perfect and they would still know because of you."

"F-15 Strike Eagle sighted over a the Soviet Union - I've monitored communications on my way back, and they'd have known it was _one_ of the Seekers as soon as they rubbed two transistors together!" He snarled at her, trying to bring his nullifier around.

"Which is why you needed to be unseen," she growled, twisting to throw him across the control room when the lift door opened without letting go of his nullifier, snapping it off without damaging the weapon, and stalked out after him. "Above or below their radar, you have the ability to avoid their notice. You didn't use it," she told him as she tossed the weapon to Skywarp without looking.

"If you were so concerned about being _seen_, you should have sent your lover!" He snapped, recovering his feet and activating his sword. "We Seekers weren't made for stealth, we were made for battle! Laserbeak could have flown _himself_ in, with no risk of being caught! Any of a dozen different ways to have done all of it, and you picked the one with the highest risk!"

"I chose the plan to tell me what I needed to know the most about," she told him evenly, regarding his sword without concern. "Do you really want to start a fight with that?"

"I'd rather have my blade, but you don't seem to have _yours_," he pointed out, lunging on the attack. "You put your desire to test a subordinate ahead of a mission that you were so very proud to have developed. Even _Megatron_ knows better than that!"

"I overestimated your competence," Ezara admitted and stepped forward to catch his weapon across a palm that glittered red, draining it as she twisted the blade down and to the side. "I will not do that again. I wouldn't have risked it if there wasn't an easy recovery."

"You _expected_ me to fail!" he snarled in outrage, trying to free his sword from her grip.

"I _expected_ you to succeed," Ezara countered coolly, her rage spent and settled into an irritated calmness. "I expected you to be as good as Lord Megatron indicated. I prepared for you to fail as any commander should."

"I _am_ as good as he's told you - and better - at my _job_," he told her, shutting down his blade and backing off, wary for another possible attack. "I'm not infiltration and surveillance."

"So I gathered," Ezara acknowledged as she regarded him evenly. "I will not overestimate your capabilities again. See to your repairs and recharging. We have several decacycles before the attack," she told him before turning away. "Soundwave, begin preparations to convert the Seekers' to MiG-29 alt mode."

"The Scanners will be dispatched," he nodded, turning to take on the new task.


End file.
